Sermons on the four marks of the church : with illustrations

.

OX THE FOUR MARKS OF THE

WITH ILLUSTRATIONS,

BY THE

REV. JOHN FLETCHER, D. D,

FROM THE FIRST ENGLISH EDITION.

IN TWO VOLUMES.
VOL. I.

Baltimore:

PUBLISHED BY JAMES MYERS, NEAR THE CATHEDRAL,

PRINTED BY BAILEY & FRANCIS,
Jfo. 173 Market street.

1830.

SERMONS.

SERMON I.

FIRST StAYDJF AFTER PEJfTECOST.
ON THE UNITY OF THE CATHOLIC CHURCH.

We have seen and been witness, that the Father has sent his
Son to be the Saviour of the world. 1 St. Jo/in, iv. 14.

THAT the benificence of the Eternal Father has
been pleased to send "his Son to be the Saviour of
the world," is a truth, which not only you and I,
my brethren, but the whole Christian universe ac
knowledges with the apostle, a truth which forms
the great basis of our future expectations, and the
best source of our present comforts. It was the
commemoration of this awful mystery, and the
glorious evidences which accompanied its fulfilment
that during the series of our late frequent festivals,
have successively engaged our attention, and warm
ed our piety. During this series, indeed, not only

4 ON THE UNITY OF THE

the Catholic church, but every denomination of
sect or heresy has, in a similar manner, placed the
conflicts and triumphs of our Redeemer before
their imaginations his conflicts, in order that their
severity might awaken in their hearts the feelings
of gratitude his victories, in order that their lustre
might animate their minds with confidence in
order that all, like the apostle, might see, that "the
Father had indeed sent his Son to be the Saviour of
the world"

The belief of the great mysteiy of our redemp
tion is therefore the general belief of the Christian
universe. There is too another belief, which being
hinged upon the above, and forming an immediate
deduction from it, is equally with it, admitted as a
general tenet. It is this, that as Christ Jesus came
down from his eternal throne to be a Saviour, he
came down also to be a legislator came down to
establish, and has actually established, a society on
earth, to which he has communicated the mysteries
of his mercy, imparted the dispensation of his au
thority, and suggested the maxims of his heavenly
wisdom. This society is what we, and indeed eve
ry sect with us, denominate the Church. The evi
dence of the necessity of such a society, where men
are to be linked together in the profession of truth
and the practice of genuine piety, and the proofs of
the establishment of such a society, are so incontro
vertible, that not even the inconsistency or indo-

CATHOLIC CHURCH. 5

cility of heresy has ventured to contest them. Of
course, again, there exists, by the acknowledg
ment of every denomination of Christians, one dis
tinct society of men professing the true faith, and
adoring the mysteries which Jesus communicated
to his apostles living under the authority which
he established retaining the maxims, and partici
pating in the means, which are the sources of grace
and sanctification.

Thus far does the Christian world agree. But,
alas! the misfortune is, it is thus far only. Ac
knowledging the existence of a true church, it is
divided about that portion of society, to whom the
happy privilege of being the true church exclu
sively belongs: divided, subdivided, and frittered
into countless sects, each sect arrogates it to itself;
and amid the wildest confusion of doctrines, some
of them impious, and some absurd all of them at
variance, and all, save one, erroneous each, with
equal confidence, is convinced that itself alone is
sacred and divine.

My brethren, when we reflect on the goodness
of that Being who has done so much to purchase
our salvation, it is not natural to suppose that he
would shed the darkest clouds on the path that
conducts us to it; else his tenderness would have
been wanting in a very essential point. Having
imparted to us his truths to be our guides, it is not
easy to conceive that he would render the medium

6 ON THE UNITY OF THE

of attaining them impenetrable; else the rejection
of them would be excusable, and the profession of
error harmless. But having said, " Whoever shall
not believe shall be damned" (as the protestant
versions translate the 16th verse of the xvi. chap, of
St. Mark ;) having ordained, that whoever is not a
member of the true church, shall be considered
"as a heathen and a publican" it is not only not
natural or easy to imagine that his goodness would
not establish some indication to point it out, it is
impossible that it should not it is repugnant to his
goodness, and to his justice itself, that he should
not; else he would reprobate us without a cause,
and "damn" us without a crime. If there be
ought in reason, or in the nature of religion, that
is evident, it is the maxims which I here establish.
And the consequence, therefore, is, that the mer
cy which has poured the beam of truth upon man
kind, the wisdom which has reared the divine fab
ric of the church, must also have instituted the
means by which we may discover them; must
have appointed marks by which the "House of
God" may be distinguished from the conventicles
of falsehood; by which not only doubt, but the scru
ples of timidity, or the misapprehensions of igno
rance may be either prevented or removed. In an
interest so seriously important as that of our salva
tion, there should be nothing dubious. Under a
mandate so imperious as that to which I have al-

CATHOLIC CHURCH. 7

luded, in order to cover the divine providence from
the imputation of injustice, there should be nothing
equivocal, uncertain, or ambiguous.*

Hence it has pleased that wisdom which formed
the Christian institute, to establish indications, by
which not only learning and ability, but even igno-

*If even the above arguments were not true ; if it were ad
mitted that the providence of God were neither interested, nor
obliged to point out the path of truth, nor to guide us by the
hand to the establishment which his mercy had formed for our
salvation; yet, in an interest so important, it should seem essen
tial, not only that men should labour to discover, but that their
wisdom should have fixed upon some given criterions, by whose
evidence or evident probability, the possession of these objects
might be ascertained and made secure. The discovery, to the
feelings of good sense, should certainly appear the most inter
esting, that prudence, industry, or learning, could attempt to re
alise. For without it, when we consider all the shades of the
human character, its passions, its prejudices, and its interests,
not only must every form of error continue to subsist, but
every form of error is defensible; doubt, where there should
be none, becomes an act of prudence; and instability, which
the apostle declares to be a crime in faith, an act of necessity.
It is not indeed, that men may not misapply or pervert the plain
est maxims, but it is true, that in religion, much more than in
any other object, maxims, as much as may be, evident and in-
contestible, should be established, in order that their bright
ness may dissipate the illusions of error; their stability, like an
anchor, prevent the evagations of the mind; and their wisdom,
in cases of dispute, be the standard to which good sense may
confidently appeal.

8 ON THE UNITY OF THE

ranee and simplicity, where they are sincere and
devoid of prejudice, may discover it. I will not
attempt to describe all these indications. They are
various, and measured to all the varieties of the
human character. Induced by the evidence of the
necessity of such indications, and by the evidence of
their existence, there are not any among the num
berless sects of Christians but admit and affect to
venerate them. They admit, it is true, some of them,
certain indications, which others content as unsatis
factory and obscure, and which certainly are both
unsatisfactory and obscure. However, along with
these, they also admit other indications, which are
satisfactory and clear. There are none of the sects
of Christianity but admit the Nicasan creed into the
canon of their belief. It is peculiarly sacred to the
legal establishment of this country, and "proved"
it is said in the 8th of its 39 articles, "% the most
certain warrants of holy scripture." Now in this
sacred instrument, along with the profession of the
most important articles of revelation, it is distinctly
acknowledged, that there exists marks which ex
clusively belong to the true church, and by which,
among the numberless conventions of fanaticism,
fraud, and superstition, it may be distinguished from
every other institute. The marks which the creed
selects, are four unity, holiness, catholicity, and
apostolicity. "/ believe in the one, Iwly, catholic,
and apostolical church" Confining our attention,

CATHOLIC CHURCH. 9

therefore, to the consideration of these four eviden
ces only, which are owned to be divine, I will en
deavour to point out in which establishment they
subsist; whether in our own, or in the establish
ments which have lately separated from it. My
plan shall be extremely simple. After having ex
plained the nature of each indication, I will merely
apply it alternately to the catholic and the protes-
tant establishments. The application will enable
you to compare them; the comparison will shew the
contrast; and the contrast point the conclusion, that
wisdom and piety should deduce.

Thus, my brethren, I have conducted your rea
son through a series of propositions that are incon-
testible and clear; that have reason and the attri
butes of the Divinity for their basis. I have laid be
fore you the principles which form the foundation
of our future reasoning, and which even our ad
versaries have tied themselves to venerate as divine.
I have said nothing, hitherto, but what is either evi
dent or acknowledged.

However, although consequently, I have arrived
at that point where I might begin the series of my
reasonings and comparisons, yet I will premise a
few general observations before I do it. I will ob
serve, that however important the discussion may
be to you, my brethren, or however consonant to
your principles, to our dissenting brethren it is
much more important still, because uncertainty is
2

10 ON THE UNITY OP THE

the necessary appendage to their faith (A) it is
more consonant to their principles, because discus
sion is the professed foundation of their belief. (B)
I will also observe, although this circumstance too is
evident that among all the various methods, by
which truth or the true church may be ascertained,
I have chosen that which is the most obvious, the
most easy, and the most rational. (C.)

I can easily anticipate what in you must be the
effect of these discourses. Beholding the acknow
ledged marks of the true church applied to our holy
institute, and finding them all transcendently con
spicuous in it seeing them applied to the sects
which have separated from it, and finding them all
notoriously deficient remarking our venerable fa
bric compared with the modern conventicles of the
reformation, and observing it rise in awful magni
ficence above them, you will experience the pleas
ing sensation of your own security, and gratitude to
the Being who has rendered you so secure; you
will exult in the splendid evidences which every
where beam upon you, and you will pity the un
happy blindness of the men who refuse to see
them.

Not that I wish your triumph, or the sensations
which you feel, to be the triumph of vanity, or the
sensations of contempt for those who do not possess
them. Feeling for your happiness, I wish you only
to be grateful to him, who of his infinite mercy,

CATHOLIC CHURCH. 11

has bestowed so distinguished a favor on you; and
feeling that others possess it not, I wish you to weep
over their misfortune, and to supplicate the God of
truth, that he will bid those rays which beam upon
you, beam also upon them; I wish you fervently
to intreat him, that he will dissipate their prejudi
ces, remove the illusions of their education, and in
troduce them to walk with you in those paths that
conduct to heaven. Gratitude is the proper effect
which the conviction of truth should produce to
wards God ; and charity the feeling which it ought
to produce towards men.

Entering then upon the discussion of the marks
of the true church, I will, to day, confine myself to
the first of them its unity: and following, as I re
marked before, a plan extremely simple, I will shew
you, first, that unity is an essential characteristic of
the true religion; 2dly, that it is eminently distin
guishable in the religion which we profess.

To conceive that unity is an essential character
istic of the true church, we need only to reflect a
moment upon the nature of the church, the nature
of the principles upon which it is founded, and
the nature of the end for which it is established.
The church is the kingdom of Jesus Christ ; its
foundations are the maxims of eternal truth; its
end the union of man with God by the ties of duty
and of man with man by the chains of love. For
this, says St. John, did Jesus die, that he might

12 ON THE UNITY OF THE

gather together in one the children of God. (xi. 52. )
Or as the great Redeemer himself expresses it, that
all may become one, as thou, Father, art in me,
and I in thee, so they also may be one in us.
(John xvii. 21.) Reason cannot conceive any
species of unity more intimate than this. (D)

But we will form our ideas of the necessity and
nature the unity which should mark the church,
from another principle, which, though perhaps less
forcible, may perhaps be more striking to your
imaginations. It was the design of God, when he
sent dowpa his Divine Son to purchase our salvation,
that he should form on earth a kingdom, which was
to resemble his eternal empire in heaven.
Formed upon the same plan, and by the same prin
ciples, it was meant to be its image, and to reflect
its beauty. It was meant to represent its harmony
and its peace, meant to exhibit in the various ranks
and orders, which compose its hierarchy and its
members, the regularity and subordination which
mark the various gradations of the seats of Sion.
Come hither, said the angel to St. John, and I will
shew tJiee the bride and tlie spouse oftJie Lamb; and
he carried me away in tJie spirit to a great and high
mountain, and he shelved me that great city (the
church) tJie holy Jerusalem coming down out of hea
ven, from God. (Rev. xxi. 10.) And hence those
frequent appellations and attributes which the pro-

CATHOLIC CHURCH. 13

phets and the scriptures give it, the fair one^ttie spot
less, tJie beautiful, the strong.

Wherefore, planned as the church is by the dic
tates of eternal wisdom, and formed upon the model
of the seats of eternal union, it is impossible to ima
gine that the Being who established it would not also
establish and interweave in its constitution, the means
by which its beauty and integrity should be retained.
It would even be an impeachment of his wisdom to
suspect the contrary. For not even human wisdom,
if it had the power, would be so improvident and in
discreet, after having formed a kingdom, or establish-
hed a constitution, as not also to establish the means
which would be necessary for its preservation, and
for perpetuating the benefits, which it was its object
to produce.

Of course, considering the church as the kingdom
of Jesus Christ; or to speak perhaps in terms more
intelligible to your reason, considering the church as
a society of men united together by Jesus Christ
submitting to the authority which he has established,
believing the doctrines which he has taught, re
vering the worship which he has inculcated, and ob
serving the practice which he has ordained it is also
essential if such society be destined to continue to
subsist it is essential that there also should exist
some tie, by which it may be held together, and the
veneration of its authority, the purity of its doctrines,
the sancity of its worship, and the cultivation of its

14 ON THE UNITY OF THE

practices be maintained, unchanged, unimpared, and
unadulterated. Not only does the nature of ar
thing like a society, or the first notions of a society,
include the idea of such a tie; but where objects so
sacred as the above are to be retained, and to be re
tained in their original uniformity, such tie is evi
dently the dictate of necessity. Without it, such
is the character of the human mind, and such the
nature of the human heart unity of belief is
an absurdity, and subordination and impossibility.
The mind, without it, as it is free, will wander
through all the mazes of error; and the heart unres
tricted will wanton in licentiousness. In reality,
if in temporal governments, such tie, or the institu
tion of such power, be the only principle of unity
and subordination, such an institution is evidently
much more essential in the sacred establishment of
religion.

The evidence of the necessity of the means of
preserving unity, is the evidence that such means
do actually exist; and to the feelings of wisdom it
might even appear useless to produce the proofs of
their existence. However, just to satisfy doubt, if
any have the weakness to contest them, I will very
superficially point them out. From the multitude
of his disciples, it is well known Jesus in the first
place selected twelve. He called unto him, says St.
Luke, his disciples, and he otiose twelve of them,
whom he named apostles, (vi. 13.) By this selec-

CATHOLIC CHURCH. 15

tion, his wisdom thought proper to commence the
unity of his establishment. Soon after, from amid
the twelve, he selected only one. Thou art Peter,
said he, and upon this rock I will build my church;
and I will give unto thee Hie keys of the king
dom of heaven, fyc. (St. Mat. xvi. 18, 19.) By
this selection he perfected the unity. For, as
it is evident that the words of Christ are addressed
to Peter only, and refered to Peter only, so it is
evident that they express a prerogative distinct
from any which his wisdom had conferred upon the
rest of the apostles, and peculiar to Peter; and
again evident, therefore, as it is admitted by all
those who admit the reality of the above preroga
tive, that they imply the institution of a power,
which was destined to be perpetuated in the church.
Peter, says St. Austin, who in his supremacy repre
sented the whole church, receives alone the keys, which
are destined to be for ever transmitted to his suc
cessors. (E)

Yes, I repeat it, if the religion which Jesus had
preached to mankind were intended to be perma
nent, if its principles are immutable, its worship
incorruptible, it is evident that the same wisdom
which imparted it, must also establish an authority
to preserve it, an authority like that which I have
proved, was communicated to St. Peter, indepen
dent and supreme; which forming a centre of unity
for the preservation of the integrity of faith, is also

16 ON THE UNITY OF THE

a principle of subordination for the purity of dis
cipline a barrier against innovation, and the ba
sis of stability. (You may indeed remark, that the
stability of the church is forcibly foretold, immedi
ately after its establishment. Thou art Peter, that
is a rock, and upon this rock I will build my church,
and tJie gates of hell shall not prevail against it.
St. Matt. xvi. 18.)

The necessity of a supremacy in the Christian in
stitute is so manifest, and so manifest also the ad
vantages which the catholic church derives from
its acknowledgment, that a great host of our pro-
testant adversaries have had the candor to acknow
ledge them; (F) have had the candor to confess
that just as authority is the security of states, and
the bond of their tranquillity, the supremacy which
we admit, is the guardian of our religion, and the
cement of its unity; or, they add, just as liberty
degenerates into licentiousness without the restraints
of civil power, so reason, where there is no supre
macy, will wander into error, and religion be de
void of energy. They have even done more, than
acknowledge this : for remarking the impieties, the
confusion and anarchy, which have disgraced the
protestant societies, and which still disgrace them,
some and they were the most learned defenders of
the protestant cause some have attempted, by all
the arts of eloquence and persuasion, to bring back
their fellow members to the centre, from which

CATHOLIC CHURCH. 17

they had wandered. In this nation in particular,
where some moderation marked the adoption of
its new principles, though great immoderation mark
ed the intolerance with which it enforced them,
the necessity and wisdom of a spiritual supremacy,
or of a centre of unity, is admitted, and forms even
the basis or the key stone of its ecclesiastical estab
lishment. It is not, my brethren, that I mean here
to pay a compliment that is very flattering to the
wisdom of my protestant countrymen : for though
it be true that the admission of the above principle
be wise, yet is their mode of applying it preposte
rous. Approaching in their theory nearer to the
maxims of catholicity than any other sect of the
reformation, in the use of the above theory, they
depart equally remotely from them. (G) They ap
ply it were neither reason nor religion had ever ap
plied it before confounding the rights of the
throne with those of the altar the privileges of the
prince with the sacred character of the pontiff:
they apply it to the former, and confer upon him the
same supreme authority in the church, which he
possesses in the state ! I will only remark, that the
circumstance, in every point of view, is censura
ble censurable, because it has neither wisdom nor
precedent for its apology, and censurable particu
larly in protestantism, because it is a system of the
widest liberty, acknowledging 116 \arbiter of faith,

18 ON THE UNITY OF THE

but reason, and spurning all control, as the inven
tion of popish tyranny.

But having convinced your good sense, that there
exists in the catholic church a principle of unity,
or a power, by which the unity of faith and the
union of the faithful may be cherished and main
tained, it is proper that I should now proceed to
shew you, that this unity of faith and union of the
faithful, do in reality subsist in our holy establish
ment, constituting one of the prominent character
istics of its divinity.

The unity of faith and the union of the faithful,
which constitute the mark or characteristic of the
true church, consist essentially in the constant be
lief and profession of the same tenets of revelation;
because the tenets of revelation being 1 divine, are
consequently unchangeable in the participation of
all in the same sacraments ; because these also be
ing divine, are destined also to be the perennial
streams of grace, and the perpetual consolations of
the faithful in submission to the same form of go
vernment and dependence upon the same visible
head ; because these too, as I have already remark
ed, being the institutions of Jesus Christ, are like
wise the principles of subordination and unanimity.

Taking, therefore, a view of these threefold cir
cumstances, let us endeavour to discover how plainly
they may be traced in the features of the catholic
religion. My brethren, to trace the features of

CATHOLIC CHURCH. jg

unity in the religion and conduct of the catholic
church, is one of the plainest of obvious things.
A mere glance at our professions of faith, at our
writings, or at our conduct, will suffice to shew it.
But just to take a general and superficial view, you
see the immense body, which constitutes the mem
bers of the catholic church, in every nation, in
every part and corner of the universe, united in the
belief and profession of the same articles of reve
lation. There is not a shade, as it may be ascer
tained by referring to our creeds, catechisms, or pro
fessions there is not a shade of difference among
us. What you and I, my brethren, believe and
profess in this sacred temple, the catholic American
believes and professes amid the snows of Canada,
and the catholic Egyptian upon the burning bor
ders of the Nile. The catholic believes in China
what the catholic believes in Italy in Persia what
he believes in Spain in Turkey what he believes
in Portugal in Paraguay what he believes in Eng
land. In short, in Europe, Asia, Africa, and
America, and in every part and portion of these
great divisions of the universe, in every city, town,
or village, where catholicity subsists, it subsists
every where alike : separated by seas, rivers, conti
nents, and mountains, all believe what the church
of Rome believes, all anathematize what the church
of Rome rejects. Following in these respects the

20 ON THE UNITY OF THE

advice of St. Paul to the Corinthians, all speak tlie
same thing; there are no divisions among tJiem; they
are perfectly joined together in ilie same mind, and
in the same judgment. (1 Cor. i. 10.) Here and
it is a circumstance which ought to astonish reason
here not the varieties of character, not the differ
ence of education, not the clouds of prejudice, not
the opposition of interests, create the most trifling
disunion. Disunited in every other respect, they
are here united and alike, and united and alike, not
in the profession of a few articles, which the pro-
testants pretend to call fundamental, and by which
also they vainly pretend to link themselves together,
but by the unanimous profession of every article of
revelation, which the church proposes to their be
lief. In short, in the belief and profession of their
tenets, the members of the catholic universe are
just like rays united in one focus ; one in the strict
est sense of the characteristic. (H) We are each of
MS, as Tertullian says, what all are, and all what
each.

But I have also remarked, that the characteristic
of unity, besides unity in belief, demands also union
among the faithful in the participation of the same
sacraments, and in submission to the same form of
government. It is indeed (so conspicuous are the
evidences of this union) almost useless to attempt to
prove it. As for the sacraments, their number,

CATHOLIC CHURCH. 21

matter, form, are every where the same. Their
number every where is seven ; and what you and I
conceive essential to each of the seven, is in every
nation conceived essential likewise. And hence, of
course, as the catholic reveres them in every place,
as the great streams of grace, their participation
forms in every place, which the ray of faith illu
mines, the great link of charity among the faithful,
the best source of their best consolation, and the in
cessant object of their veneration. Above all, my
brethren, the mystery that has called you to day
round this holy altar, the divine, but insulted
mystery of the Eucharist, is throughout the Chris
tian world the chief object of their adoration.
Animated with the same faith which we here pro
fess, above half the Christian universe will, on this
day, like us, bend down the knee to acknowledge
its divinity. As it forms the greatest object of
catholic piety, it forms also a very distinguishing fea
ture in our unity. It is the sun that illumines, and
the centre that joins us in one.

Similar to the unity of the catholic faith, and to
the union of the faithful in the veneration of the
same sacraments, are the respect and submission
which they pay to the same form of government.
The catholic, in every corner of the globe, acknowl
edges one head, the vicar of Jesus Christ, and the
successor of St. Peter, invested not only with a

22 ON THE UNITY OF THE

supremacy of honour, but a supremacy of jurisdic
tion over the whole body of the church. Heir of
that authority which our great legislator conferred
upon St. Peter, our supreme pontiff the Pope forms
among us a point of unity, in which all the orders
of the church, like so many rays, concentrate, and
from which its various ranks and offices derive
their jurisdiction a source of instruction^ deciding,
in cases of dispute, the appeals which are made to
his tribunal; a head of the apostolic college, and a
common father of tlie faithful, feeding, as Christ
commanded Peter, both the sheep and the lambs,
that constitute the fold. The advantages (I have
already observed it) which result from this sacred
institution, in maintaining unity of belief and union
among the members of the church, are honestly-
conceded, even by the prejudices of our adversaries.
A supremacy is evidently the principle of subordi
nation ; and subordination, it is equally evident, is
the source of unity; awing the spirit of indepen
dence to submission, and the love of innovation to
silence. Well ; such is precisely the nature of the
supremacy which every catholic admits and vene
rates. So that guided by it, where the nature of
the occasion invokes its interference, or even, if you
will, on all occasions, the catholic church forms
one body, animated by one soul, moving by one prin-
dpk, and acting by the simple mechanism of one

CATHOLIC CHURCH. 23

single power. "God," says St. Cyprian, "is one,
Christ one, the church one, and that see one, which
was founded upon Peter by the word of our Re
deemer." (Ep. ad univ. plebem.)

Neither, my brethren, is the unity of the catholic
church, which I have just described, peculiar to it
at the present period. Its unity, in all those points
which form the characteristic of unity, has been,
in every preceding age, alike alike in faith, in
the participation of the same rites, and in the ve
neration of the same authority. What the catholic
believes at present, each age, since the dawn of
revelation, has believed before, and believed pre
cisely as he does.

The investigation of this circumstance is one of
those to which we ardently invite our adversaries.
While it would prove a source of triumph to us,
it might also be a principle of salvation to them;
because, as their reason cannot but respect the
doctrines of remote antiquity beholding our doc
trines correspond, or rather the same with those,
which the saints have, since the dawn of Christianity,
believed they would perhaps be induced to adore
what they now deride, and to embrace what now
they think it piety to reject. Effects, like these,
it is true, must be the results of investigation con
ducted by the love of truth, animated by pious in
dustry, and accompanied by prayer, humility, and
virtue. And investigations,, alas! of this nature,

24 ON THE UNITY OF THE

formed upon such principles, are not, I am aware,
in these times, to be expected. Let then cu
riosity itself an honest impartial curiosity, give
itself the trouble to discuss the important question^
This I am convinced of, that without very arduous
labour, without wasting many nights over the
midnight lamp, it may soon ascertain the correct
ness of my assertion. I will just point out the plan
on which curiosity should proceed to do it. Calling
to its tribunal, not the whole creed of catholicity
at once, but one, any one distinct tenet, which we
profess, let it begin by consulting the fathers, his
torians, and monuments of the ages that are most
immediately joined to the age of the apostles, what
was the opinion which was then entertained re
specting it, and placing this opinion by the side of
ours, let it decide how nearly they agree. Con
tinuing the same kind of process through the ages
which succeeded the above, let it again, by the aid
of writers, creeds, councils, and other attestations,
which mark the public faith, again ascertain what
was the belief upon the article in discussionand
again comparing this belief with what we believe at
present, let it determine whether or not they disa
gree. Proceeding thus through each revolving
century, examining each link which unites genera
tion to generation, let it advance till it arrive at
the present period. The consequence will be, let
who may be the individual, whom candid cu-

CATHOLIC CHURCH. 25

riosity has thus prompted to make the investigation,
he will find that the catholic tenet of the nine
teenth century, is the tenet of every revolving
era. He will find himself at the end of a well
formed, and strongly rivetted chain, reaching from
the age, or from the hand, of Jesus to the
age in which he lives. He will discover, that
what the Basils, the Chrysostoms, and the Aus
tins, what the learned, the wise, the great and
good of every place and period have believed be
fore, is what you and I believe at present. Such
would be the effect of the discussion of any separate
article of our faith; and prejudice itself, if preju
dice had the patience to discuss such objects, would
be reduced to own it. But, how much more tri
umphant would it be to us, and how much more
useful to the individual, if, having once commenc
ed this mode of examination, he could be induced
to pursue it through the series of our tenets. He
would see each generation believing the same max
ims, adoring the same mysteries, submitting to the
same authority, which ice now revere. He would
indeed see impiety and error often scattering abroad
the seeds of heresy and seduction he would observe
" the prince of darkness" often attempting, with
all the powers of malice, to break down the sacred
barriers of piety he would see anarchy and confu
sion, and wars and persecutions, while injuring the
faithful, conspiring to injure the faith. But, he
4

26 ON THE UNITY OF THE

would see too, that conformably with the assurance
of Christ, not even the gates of hell sJwuld pre
vail against the church he would see that the same
holy maxims continued always to regulate its mem
bers, the same mysteries to console them, the same
power to govern them. Impiety planted error and
heresy, but to see them anathematised ; and satan
excited persecutions, but to present the occasion of
new victories. In short, it had been promised, that
the religion of Jesus should remain unchanged : and
whoever will study well the religion of the catholic,
will discover, that this promise has been accurately
verified in its regard. He will remark it, like a
great majestic river flowing through the midst of
ages, always unadulterated and clear, casting out, if
aught impure were thrown into it, the unclean and
heterogeneous element and overturning, if any
obstacle interposed to impede its progress, the bold
obtrusive barrier; clearest always, when malice
has attempted to disturb its waters, and grandest
always, when the winds, and the raws, and the
storms, have combined to lift them up.

But, my brethren, these circumstances are so obvi
ous when they are examined, that (I have twice re
marked it) even prejudice must admit them. And,
indeed, I could produce a long list of attestations from
some of the most violent, though the most learned,
of our antagonists, who have had the candor to
acknowledge them. The Centuriators, intending

CATHOLIC CHURCH. 27

probably to insult us, although such insults are the
highest compliments, in reality, which their kind
ness could bestow the Centuriators call our reli
gion, "a compound of all the errors of the ancient
fathers." Bishop Dudith acknowledges the same.
So, indeed, does Luther, and the host of his deluded
followers. What, says the bold patriarch, are a thou
sand Chrysostoms or a thousand Austins to me? In
duced by the evidence of the similitude or identity of
our present tenets, with those which the ancient fa
thers were wont to venerate, the first reformers have
vilified and insulted the writings and authority of the
latter, with the same copious scurrility, which they
teemed upon the contemporaries who opposed them.
Dr. Priestly, very justly remarks, and honestly al
lows, that "so long, as any regard was paid to the
fathers, and arguments were allowed to be fetched
from them, the advantage, could not but lie on the side
of popery" "JVbr did the reformers, he adds, get
clear of this difficulty and embarrassment, (for some
in this country piously conceiving the necessity that
the modern should resemble the ancient church,
had the impudence to appeal to its old defenders)
till Chillingivorthboldly declared that the bible only
contained the religion of protestants." Thus does the
protestant abandon to us the authority of the fa
thers, the good and wise of the best and wisest
ages, honestly acknowledging, that our belief and
maxims are the same which they professed. Now

28 ON THE UNITY OF THE

let me just ask you here, my brethren, what
in this conduct of the protestants is the most aston
ishing the boldness of accusing us of error, who
believe what they allow the most venerable pastors
of the church have believed before us, or the in
fatuation of conceiving that their own doctrines are
divine, which they admit are different from the
doctrines of preceding centuries ? Why even our
errors would be honorable, where we err only
with the greatest men, whom, since the era of the
apostles, Christianity respects. But ah! how great
is the credulity, how deep rooted the prejudice,
that honestly if honest credulity be possible in
such circumstances, that honestly believe it!

If, after thus contemplating the unity of the
catholic church, you consider the other principles,
which besides that of a supreme authority, concur
to link us closely together, you will be convinced
that innovation, or a difference of belief, is morally
impossible among us. We profess and the church
in each age has always professed the same, that
truth is one and divine, and consequently unchange
able that our religion came forth from the bosom
of the divinity, a complete and perfect system, and
that therefore to attempt to change it, to add, or
to take aught from it to endeavour even to im
prove it, would be criminal. Hence, in the whole
plentitude of her power, the church never pretends
to create any new article of faith. Qn the contra-

CATHOLIC CHURCH. 29

ry, as if anxious to restrict her own power, and to
render such creation impossible, she not only ties
herself to believe the sacred scriptures, she ties her
self to believe and interpret them in the same sense,
in which every general council, and the pastors of
each preceding century, have believed and inter
preted them before. She solemnly declares, that
she rejects any article or opinion which is not con
sonant to the dictates of this general and uninter
rupted tradition. It is evident, that change or
innovation is repugnant to the nature of such a
constitution. (I)

The voice of the church, it is true, is the rule
which directs the opinion of the faithful, because
Christ Jesus has said 5 he that hears you hears me.
Her authority is the power that awes them to sub
mission, because he has also said, he that will not
hear ilie church, let him be to thee a heathen or a
publican. She is consequently the guardian of the
sacred depositum of faith, and the arbiter, which,
in cases of doubt, difficulty, or disorder, it is the
general duty to obey. But here again, she ac
knowledges that all the plentitude of her authority
is merely to watch over the holy depositum, and to
see that it be transmitted unadulterate and un
altered to the end of time. She says nothing, on
these occasions, that is new; she pretends not to
any recent revelation, or fresh discovery she only,
under the influence of that spirit which has assured

30 ON THE UNITY OF THE

us, that he would remain with her, all days, to the
end of the world, declares what is the revelation
that was once delivered to the apostles, and in
structs the faithful, in what manner they should
revere it. She acts, on these occasions, as the
apostles did, when contests arose among their fol
lowers, respecting the ceremonies of the law.
They assembled, deliberated, and declared what
was the law of revelation. It has seemed good,
tliey said, to the Holy Ghost and to us. Without
any new revelation, she points out as they did, what
the dictates of faith and piety require; thus staying
the growth of error, and preventing, by the influ
ences of her authority, the mischiefs of disobedi
ence or disunity. For the faithful, it again is evi
dent, under the impressions that her authority is
divine, and her injunctions the voice of heaven,
receive her mandates with respect, and obey them
without resistance. Resistance, with such princi
ples, would be a contempt of the divine authority,
and disobedience would be rebellion. (K)

Thus, my brethren, upon a theatre, where ob
jects are in a state of constant revolution on a
scene, where storms and tempests rage incessantly,
and carry away in their anger the strongest monu
ments of human industry where passions and
vices and prejudices prevail, and imperiously con
trol their victims where opinions are daily chang
ing, and institutions varying, almost like female

CATHOLIC CHURCH. 31

fashions how striking, how astonishing is the cir
cumstance, but how dear and consoling to our
hearts, to behold, that amid all these prospects of
confusion and perversity, our holy religion, and
our holy religion only, has subsisted always with
out change or variation always, and every where,
beautiful and strong, and beautiful and strong,
because always and every where united? With
how great reason might I here exclaim in raptures
of astonishment, as Balaam did, when from the
top of the mountain he viewed the tents of Israel
beneath him in the desert: How beautiful, O Jacob,
are thy tabernacles, and thy tents, O Israel! In
effect, in the unity of faith, and the union of chari
ty, which tie the members of the church together,
and which link generation to generation, we see
verified that similitude to which I have before
alluded, from St. John, that the church on earth
should resemble its prototype in heaven. We see
verified, that promise, which also I have cited in
this discourse, that the unity in the church should
resemble that unity which subsists between Christ
and his eternal Father. Tlie glory which tlwu hast
given me, I have given tJiem, tliat tliey should be one^
even as we are one. (St. John xvii. 22.)

Behold then, my brethren, I have placed before
you the scene of unity, which the catholic church
exhibits. I have convinced your reason, that in
faith and in practice we are all one; and from our

32 ON THE UNITY OF THE

principles, for ever formed to remain one. Of
course, it should now be my object to hold forth to
your observation the prospects and views of pro
testantism; and comparing its belief, its conduct and
its maxims, with the nature of faith, and the nature
of that unity which truth demands, proceed to shew
you how exactly they accord. However, notwith
standing that I have compressed the various parts
of this instruction as much as their moderate eluci
dation would permit, yet feeling that I have already
exceeded the usual measure of a discourse, I will
reserve these prospects and comparisons to the
evening. I will only, before I conclude, in few
words, remind you, that you owe to God a two-fold
tribute for his mercies a general tribute of praise
and adoration, for having, amid all the storms of
passion, preserved his church and a personal tri
bute of gratitude and love, for having, amid all the
dangers of error, preserved you from its contagion,
and retained you in the path that conducts to hea
ven. My brethren, after the happiness of possess
ing heaven, the greatest blessing is certainly to be
placed in the path that conducts to it. After the
happiness of rejoicing with the saints, the next is
that of professing the same tenets, and practising
the same means by which they became saints.
Consider, therefore, your religion as your best in
heritance. Tremble at whatever may endanger
its loss. Let its tenets be the guides of your belief

CATHOLIC CHURCH. 33

and what, in reality, is equally, or still more im
portant let its moral injunctions be the rules of
your conduct. You are the members of the church,
because you profess its doctrines but you are use
less members unless you cultivate its maxims. It is
by uniting the belief of its doctrines with the obser
vance of its maxims, that you are really catholics,
or really virtuous Christians. It is thus only you
can rationally expect to insure the benefits of your
holy religion: thus only, with propriety, hope to ob
tain the approbation of Him, who has made you
the members of his church on earth, in order that
one day he may make you the members of his
church in heaven.

SERMON II.

FIRST SUNDAY AFTER PENTECOST.

ON THE WANT OF UNITY IN THE PROTESTANT
CHURCH.

We have seen and bear witness, that the Father has sent his
Son to be the Saviour of the world. 1 St. John, iv. 14.

AFTER the trifling interval which has elapsed
since my discourse this morning, it cannot seem
necessary, either that I should recal to your recol
lection the principles which I then laid down as the
basis of our present investigation, or recapitulate
the conclusions which evidently resulted from them.
Both the principles and the conclusions are, I
flatter myself, still fresh in your remembrance.
Suffice it just to say, that unity is one of the ac
knowledged marks of the church of Christ, and
you traced that unity distinctly in the church of
catholics; you beheld its members, however wide
ly they were separated by seas and regions, how
ever disunited by interests, inclinations, or preju-

36 ON THE WANT OF UNITY IN

dices, however remote from each other by ages
and generations you beheld them in religion, inti
mately united, constituting one great people, pro
fessing the same faith, adoring the same mysteries,
and submitting to the same authority. Bear, my
brethren, the image of this scene deeply impressed
upon your memories, because it is one of the sides
of the comparison which your reason is about to
make; and that comparison, you know it, if made
with candor, is destined to present the evidence of
truth, and the foundation of conviction.

Before I proceed to place before you the other
side of the comparison, or before I etch the scenes
which the reformation holds out to your contem
plation, it will perhaps be proper to premise this
observation that if aught upon the canvas appear
distorted if instead of the lovely images of har
mony, I present the prospects of discord and con
fusion, the fault is neither in the pencil, nor in
the hand that holds it. I should deem criminal the
line that marked unfaithfully even the features of
distortion; and illiberal the shade that contributed
to give darkness to a shade unhappily too dark al
ready. Truth always should hold, and charity di
rect the pencil which delineates any object of reli
gion. I flatter myself that truth and charity will
regulate mine. If, therefore, in the etching which
I exhibit, any thing appear distorted and too darkly
shaded, the distortion and sjiade are in the nature

THE PROTESTANT CHURCH. 37

of the objects which I describe. The representa
tion of any object is only faithful by giving it the
features, the attitudes, the shades, and colours,
which it possesses. A faithful portrait is a faithful
mirror, reflecting back the objects as they are; if
disfigured, of course disfigured, if dark, dark. It
is true, if even I were, in delineating the portrait of
protestantism, to add a few awkward lines to some
of its distorted features, or to give more darkness to
its shades, I could find an apology for the disgrace
ful conduct, in the conduct of our adversaries. I
should only do what they do every day. For, my
brethren, it is true, that when the protestant pre
tends to give the portrait of what he nicknames
popery, he presents a daub, the suggestions of male
volence, or the creature of his ignorance, in which
there is neither line, nor look, nor attitude, nor
colour true; a mere caricature held forth to ex
cite contempt, to awaken ridicule, or to provoke
injustice. Such is the case with nearly the whole
herd of our protestant countrymen, from the mitred
prelate, (A) down to the meanest parson; and
from the most learned historian to the superficial
author of a novel. (B) The circumstance is sin
gular in a nation whose peculiar boast is liberality;
and whose most striking characteristics are certain
ly mildness and good sense. It is not the place,
nor indeed the time, to explain the causes of this
seeming phenomenon. The causes are various;

38 ON THE WANT OF UNITY IN

but a leading cause is the applause with which this
species of illiberality has always been greeted by the
vulgar, and the rewards (I blush to say it) which
hitherto it has met with from the great. However,
peace to the men who thus insult us, and to the men
too who deem it piety to reward them. May the
rays of charity beam upon them; and may that spi
rit which guides them, have no influence upon me.
As for me, my brethren, this I am sure of I can
put my hand upon my heart, and appeal to heaven
that it is true it is not the impulse of rancour
it is not the suggestion of displeasure against our
adversaries, that have urged me to delineate a por
trait which may displease them. It is, if I know
myself, a motive diametrically the reverse. I shall
do it under the influences of charity, acting under
the influence of truth I shall do it from a prin
ciple of benevolence, animated by the sincerity of
a conviction which has study, industry, and reason
for its basis. At all events, lest any should be dis
posed to suspect the facts or actions which I shall
bring forward, either in this, or any subsequent
discourse, I will just add, that mere reflections apart
the whole, or nearly the whole, shall be borrowed
from the writings, the public acts, and attestations
of the protestants themselves.

Having premised these observations, I proceed to
the discussion of the claims, which protestantism
presents to the mark of unity. The necessity of

THE PROTESTANT CHURCH. 39

the mark, I have already observed, is equally ad
mitted by the protestant and the catholic; and the
wisest of the former, like the whole body of the
latter, explain the important attribute in the man
ner which I suggested this morning to you
that for the church, or for any church, to be one
in the sense of the Nicean creed, it is necessary
that its members be united in the same belief, and
that this belief be also the same which ages have
professed before.

Casting then a general look upon the great herd
of mankind, and marking" the general distinctions
under which they are classed or if you will, pla
cing before me the map of the universe, and ob
serving the various kingdoms that divide it, and
the religious denominations which the various king
doms have adopted, I find that an immense portion
of society is distinguished by the appellation of
protestants I find that several of the great king
doms, provinces, and cities are characterised by
this term. However, as I know that a general
term is, by no means, in all cases, the proof of
any unity of principle just as the term Christian
is not indicative of any particular institute I of
course proceed to analyze its signification, and to
examine whether the denomination of protestants
be indeed applied to the professors of one religion
only. The discussion of this circumstance is not
an object that demands either industry or study.

40 ON THE WANT OF UNITY IN

I at once discover that it is intended merely to be
a term of division, a name of separation, I had
almost said, the watch-word of rebellion, employ
ed by the discontented, when they rejected the
authority of the parent church. So far from de
noting any unity of faith, I find that it comprises
an absolutely countless multitude of sects, societies,
conventicles, and heresies, condemning each other,
vilifying each other, anathematizing and com
bating each other, a chaos of confusion, or "a
jumbled herd of jarring dogmatists," disagreeing
in every thing but their abhorrence of the religion
which they have abandoned. It would far exceed
the limits of a discourse, even superficially, to enu
merate them. Indeed I believe that not even all
the industry of learning or curiosity could do it.
About thirty years ago, the royal society of this
country made an attempt of this description. They
endeavoured to ascertain what was then the num
ber of the organised sects within the boundaries
of England; and though the research was made
without much interest or attention, they traced
distinctly upwards of sixty a great number cer
tainly, when we reflect that the true religion is es
sentially one a small number, when we consider
that the protestant rule of faith is only private judg
ment. It is the same in every other protestant
establishment in Germany, Holland, Switzerland,
in all the states, provinces, and cities, where pro-

THE PROTESTANT CHURCH. 41

testantism has superceded catholicity. Each state
is a distinct establishment, (C) self-created and
independent, exhibiting in itself a portrait not
unlike that fabled being, which poetry has depict
ed terrific with fifty heads ; or perhaps rather like
that other fabled creature, which it has described
assuming every form and colour. My brethren,
this is certain, there is nothing, in the general view
of protestantism, that presents a scene of unity. (D)
Quitting, therefore, this medium, as too vague
to ascertain the claims which it possesses to this
essential mark of truth, I interrogate what my
reason tells me should be the best criterion of its
existence. I interrogate the creeds of protestantism
not collectively, that is impossible; nor indeed
all of them separately that is almost equally im
possible ; but the creeds of those states and churches,
which from their antiquity, such as it is, their
respectability and extent, have the strongest titles to
attention. You know, my brethren, I have often
urged this consideration upon your reason, you
know, that truth being one, is consequently un
changeable you know, that religion being divine,
is consequently a complete and perfect system. Of
course, you know, that the faith which has varied,
the system which has frequently been altered, in
order to be amended, cannot possibly be divine.
" Nothing, says the learned protestant (Dr. Hey)
nothing occurs to we, which is so essential to a chris-
6

42 ON THE WANT OF UNITY IN

tian church as to admit of no variation" (Vol. 2cL)
Variation undoubtedly implies the supposition
or is rather the concession of errors, faults and
defects; and therefore if variations have really
taken place in the creeds of protestantism, they
evidently prove that such creeds were merely hu
man, the creatures of caprice, and the dictates of
the fancy.

Investigating, then, the important question by
the light of these maxims, I have alternately studied
the history of the formation of the creeds of some
of the leading sects of protestantism, the Lutheran,
the Calvanistic, the creed of our own establishment,
&c. And suffice it to say of them all for the
history of all is very nearly the history of each
they all present a scene and series of changes and
variations, which are quite inconsistent with the
nature of faith, and the perfection of religion. (E)
I see new articles of belief proposed and adopted
with the strongest apparent conviction, that they
were true ; and in the interval of a few years, I see
them altered and rejected with the fullest conviction,
that they were false. I see incessant reforms of
reformation, and re-reforms of what had often been
re-reformed before. In some cases, I see the same
hand destroy at night, what with pious industry it
had created in the morning; for as Bossuet observes,
it frequently happened that each day had its creed.
In short, in the formation of their creeds, the pro-

THE PROTESTANT CHURCH. 43

testants, it is certain, have manifested little which
piety or good sense can deem either human wis
dom, human stability, or human decorum. They
were for ever retouching and changing, retrenching
or adding, improving or deteriorating for ever,
as St. Paul describes it, fluctuating with every wind
of doctrine, constant in nothing but inconstancy,
steady in nothing but variation. The waves that
wash our shores are less unsteady. The case is, the
history of protestant creeds is the history of almost
all the passions of the human heart. Often they
were the dictate of party violence often of indivi
dual interest often of bigotry and fanaticism
often of ignorance and credulity, whilst they owe
their adoption to the general weakness of the pub
lic. Hence they have changed with the change of
times, and varied with every variation of circum
stance. There is not, amid the numberless institu
tions of protestantism, one which retains exactly
the principles of its founders ; or rather there is not
one which has not deviated very widely from them.
(F) The circumstance is acknowledged by a multi
tude of protestant writers, with a candor that re
fleets more credit upon their sincerity than it casts
upon their consistency. They honestly own, that
the first reformers, owing to the storms and con
fusion of the times (certainly it is wise to make
some apology for them, and we willingly admit it)
they own that the first reformer? were " clumsy

and unskilful architects," who possessing the talents,
and omnipotent in the means of pulling down the
fabric of the ancient church, had neither the art to
build, nor the taste to decorate the new one.
" They were left." says the late learned and venera
ble Bishop of Worcester (Dr. Hurd) "to the natural
influence of their passions, and they acted as their
passions impelled them." (Introd. to the proph.)
After remarking the want of unity and stability,
which has been common to the creeds of pro
testantism, it were in vain to expect either, in the
faith of its professors. Among its professors be
the society among its multifarious societies to which
they belong what it may there are almost as many
doctrines as teachers, as many opinions as indivi
duals, as many sects as sectaries. Unity, except
in one solitary circumstance, I have before remark
ed it, there is none. What is truth, evidence, and
demonstration to one, is error, falsehood, and
folly to another. It is so, indeed principally so,
among the learned. Men of the same establish
ment are men of different religions. I doubt much
whether it would be possible to find two that
believe precisely alike. I doubt whether among
the thinking class of protestants, it would be possi
ble to find one, who through life, has retained the
same opinions one, who in the series of a long
and studious life, has not repeatedly changed them.
In the recent publications of the protestant clergy

THE PROTESTANT CHURCH. 45

of this nation, although these should be measured
by the rule of the articles which they have sub
scribed, there is nothing like unity of principle or
unity of faith to be discovered. Adopting as the
basis of their reasoning some of them the princi
ples of Calvin some of them the maxims of Ar-
minius some of them the still wider maxims of
Socinus- and some of them their own, at least
applying some of the above principles by the dictate
of their own ideas, they give to the divine and
unchangeable system of religion every form and
feature which fancy can suggest, or which reason
emancipated from the restraints of authority can
dictate. If curiosity would discuss their writings,
in cases where they have undertaken to explain the
meaning of their own articles, it will be found that
few or none of them agree in the same interpreta
tions. It will be found, that in one article or
other, each has his favourite system, the creature
of his own wisdom, or the offspring of his
own caprice. But, if too, placing the wri
tings of our modern protestants by the side of
the writings of their predecessors at certain pe
riods, curiosity would give itself the trouble to
compare them, it would discover, that they are
nearly as unlike each other, as they are unlike the
writings of the catholic. Indeed he would find
that at one period, the reign of the second Charles,
the writings of some protestant prelates, upon some

46 ON THE WANT OF UNITY IN

controverted points, are more unlike the writings
of a modern protestant, than they are unlike those
of a catholic. There is hardly one article in which
I could not refute the opinion of a modern pro
testant by the opinion of an ancient one. In
short, comparing the present state of protestantism
with its supposed youth, and the days of its greatest
vigour, it will be found to retain few vestiges of
the former, and perhaps still fewer features of the
latter.

But the cause of all this is obvious. The dif
ferences which we have traced in the creeds of our
protestant brethren, in the faith of individuals, or
in the writings of their divines, all these are the
natural and the necessary result of the principles and
constitution of protestantism. Disunity is as essen
tially interwoven in its principles and constitution,
as unity is interwoven with those of catholicity.

Protestantism reposes entirely upon the ruins of
authority, and the rejection of an infallible tribu
nal. When the apostles of protestantism entered
upon -the bold career of reforming, as the first
measure which they adopted was to detach them
selves from the centre of unity, and to spurn the
influences which maintained it, their first doctrine
was, consequently, and indeed very consistently,
this that faith is the dictate of private judgment,
and that freedom from control is the attribute of
Christian liberty. The creed, which was proposed

THE PROTESTANT CHURCH. 47

by the wisdom of the church, they called an impo
sition upon public credulity; and the power that
was exercised by its tribunal, they termed usurpa
tion, tyranny, and injustice. According, there
fore, to the principles and constitution of pro
testantism, every individual, no matter whether
he be learned or ignorant, the wisest pastor or the
most stupid laymen, is essentially the judge of his
own religion, and the interpreter of the sacred
scriptures. The religion of a protestant, says one
of the wisest on the bench of our present protestant
prelates (Dr. Watson) not, it is true, citing the
authority of an apostle, but using the words of a
pagan writer " tlie religion of a protestant is to
believe just what he pleases, and to profess ivhat Jie
believes" There is no exaggeration, no inaccu-

<_>c? t

racy in this definition. Having appreciated the
nature of the protestant rule of faith, the respecta
ble prelate has, with the consistency of a protestant,
and the elegance of a scholar, defined it, perhaps
in the most accurate terms, which either his theo
logy or his learning could have furnished. The
supreme tribunal of the belief of every consistent
protestant, is his own reason. (G) Every other
tribunal is subordinate to this. Pastors and prelates
are mere counsellors and advisers ; consistories and
synods mere offices of police ; and creeds and con
fessions mere instructions addressed to the ignorant
or simple. If any of these were to attempt to con-

48 ON THE WANT OF UNITY IN

trol belief- if any were to endeavour to chain down
the understanding to any determinate code of faith,
they would, by the real and original principles of
protestantism, be the inconsistencies, the violation,
and the tyranny of protestantism. The re-intro
duction of authority, or the re -admission of any
tribunal, save that of human reason, would be
(the good sense of many protestants has allowed it)
the. re-introduction of catholicity, and the re-ad
mission of its power. (H)

Thus although religion, in its proper and origi
nal meaning, signify a tie, and were even consider
ed such by the reason of the pagan; although
truth be essentially one, and the wisdom which
communicated it to mankind have ordained, that
it should be preserved unadulterated and entire
although too such be the weakness of the human

O

mind, and the instability of the heart, that, in
almost every circumstance, the former requires the
aid of counsel, and the latter the restraints of au
thority, yet by the constitution of protestantism,
neither religion is a tie upon the reason of its pro
fessors truth has no adequate tribunal to watch
over its integrity, nor has the mind any oracle
either to guide its ignorance, or to restrain its eva-
gations. Why; to conceive that the unity of truth,
or the union of subordination, could possibly sub
sist under so wide a system of mental emancipa
tion, to my apprehension appears impossible. It

THE PROTESTANT CHURCH. 49

were conceiving what is not in the nature of the
human character, though even it were much more
enlightened than it is. But formed as we are,
weak, ignorant, and vain the dupes of the ima
gination, and the sport of prejudice cradled to
errors, and trained to all the various forms of ha
bits, passions, and inclinations, there is nothing so
natural in the conduct of men, where men are left
to themselves, as dissonance of belief, and difference
of opinion. Nothing short, either of an infallible
tribunal, or a miraculous interposition of the divine
wisdom can, in such situation, produce unity of
faith. And hence do the principles of protestant
ism, while they give birth to every fiction and form
of error, give also a sanction and confirmation to
them while they are the parent of every heresy,
which religion and piety deplore, they afford also
to every heresy the same arguments for its de
fence, and the same authority for its introduction.
Yes, my brethren, and it is to these principles,
unhappily too consonant to the pride of the hu
man heart, and too analogous to its corruption,
that we must attribute not only the disunity which
prevails among the countless sects of the reforma
tion, but the general spirit of incredulity which
pervades society. Extending through all the rami
fications of error, the Socinian considers them as
the basis of his modifications of Christianity, the
Pyrrhonist as the motives of his scepticism, the de-
7

50 ON THE WANT OF UNITY IN

ist as the evidences of his infidelity, and even the
atheist as the proofs of his impiety. (I) Observe,
I speak of the leading maxims of protestantism
only, and of the errors, to which of their own
nature, and when applied in their full extent
they generally conduct. Fortunately for the cause
of protestantism, for the cause of religion and of
society, men do not generally apply them in their
full extent through all their dreadful consequences
and bearings. Staid by the instincts of piety and
decorum, they apply them only to a certain num
ber of objects ; and though they wander in the
mazes of error, their happy timidity keeps them
aloof from the precipice, to which, their principles,
if pursued, inevitably would conduct them.

The reformers were soon sensible of the perni
cious tendency of these maxims, and of the evils
which they were calculated to produce. It was
the long chain of these evils, that the weak, though
penetrating, Melancthon contemplated, when he so
emphatically exclaimed, "Great God! what a tra
gedy are we reformers preparing for the universe."
However, in order in some degree at least, to coun
teract these mischiefs, and to establish among their
followers something like the unity of faith which
they acknowledged was essential to the true re
ligion, and whose absence in theirs they were aware
the catholic would forcibly urge against it, their
ingenuity suggested and adopted a variety of arti-

THE PROTESTANT CHURCH. 51

fices and expedients. They adopted, in the first
place, as the medium of unity, the great record
of our holy religion the sacred scriptures. "It
is not," they incessantly called out to their hearers,
"it is not in the codes of faith which your credu
lity has hitherto revered, that your reason must
look for the true religion. These invented often
by superstition, and imposed by the interested poli
cy of Roman pontiffs, are but the illusions of folly
to amuse your weakness, or the artifices of error to
enslave your understandings. The only code of
your faith is the bible; and the only interpreter of
the bible is your own reason. Read it. It alone is
divine. In it alone you will trace the genuine
tenets or revelation. A ray of the purest light
beams upon each page, which immediately, with
out the aid of councils, which are fallible; of autho
ritywhich is tyranny or of any other mediums,
which are all fallaciousimmediately points out
the truth. And what, they added, is the use of
reason, if it be not to direct you in this momen
tous research? what the use of your judgment and
understanding, if here their dictates are set aside?"
My brethren, you feel the force of this appeal to
minds already warmed with the love of liberty,
and gratified by the prospects of novelty. It was
certainly calculated to please and to produce ef
fects. They instantly adopted the bible as the sole
code of faith; and their reason they constituted its

52 ON THE WANT OF UNITY IN

interpreter. They read it, as their apostles recom
mended, imawed by the controls of authority, and
unaided by the influences of extraneous wisdom.
Well, and what was the consequence? Why, such
as your reason and mine would naturally suppose.
As they read it through different mediums, they
beheld its truths in different forms. As they read
it with different passions, prejudices, and interests,
they interpreted its pure and unchangeable doc
trines into tenets the most preposterous, contra
dictory, and multifarious multifarious almost as
the individuals who interpreted them. Thus, for
example, just to instance only one or two of the
great and most important objects of revelation
within the space of very few years from the intro
duction of the reformation, above eighty systematic
and warmly defended interpretations were given of
the few words "this is my Body" While one
great host of these interpreters, who leaned to the
side of Luther, proved evidently from them that
Christ is really present in the holy Eucharist the
other, who inclined to the sect of Calvin, as evi
dently proved, in their conceptions, that he is
really absent. While a considerable part of the
reformers demonstrated the divinity of our great
redeemer, another, though less numerous portion,
affected clearly to evince, that his divinity is a
fable. While multitudes proved the necessity of
infant baptism, a great society of others proved its

THE PROTESTANT CHURCH. 53

impropriety. In short, my brethren, under the
pleasing presumption, that the bible is the sole rule
of faith, and the reason of each individual its sole
interpreter, the reformers, who at first, were not the
believers of any specific system of religion they
had these to form but only separatists from the
catholic church, soon divided, subdivided, and frit
tered themselves into sects, societies, and conven
tions too various for the industry of the historian to
enumerate, too absurd for curiosity itself to inves
tigate with pleasure. Germany alone soon beheld
above a hundred organized religions, where a few
years before it had contemplated only one ; and it be
held each religion, however impious or absurd its
tenets, equally convinced of its own divinity, and
equally ardent in its defence. The circumstance,
my brethren, of the varieties of belief in protestant
ism, is only what I have before remarked; it is na
tural to expect, where men, with all the shades of
the human character, are the interpreters of the
holy scriptures. And, as for the other circum
stance, of the conviction which each sect possesses
of the divinity of its own tenets, and the ardor with
which it stands forward in their defence, this also
is equally natural with the former, of which indeed
it is the obvious result. For, if the scriptures be
the sole rule of faith, and the reason of the indivi
dual their sole interpreter, then not only does a
Luther, a Calvin, or a Cranmer, with equal wis-

54 ON THE WANT OF UNITY IN

dom believe his own peculiar tenets, and defend
them with equal justice, but as every other sec-
tarist, or individual, possesses the same privileges
as these apostles, the consequence is evident, that
whoever armed with the scriptures, reads and in
terprets them, has just as much proof that his in
terpretations are wise, although they be but the
dreams of fancy as much reason to defend them,
although they be but the dictates of passion, as if
they were the interpretations of consistories, or the
decrees of synods. Indeed he has even more ; for
by the most fundamental of all protestant maxims,
all extraneous authority that controls belief is an
infringement of Christian liberty. "The bible I say"
exclaims Mr. Chillingworth, "the bible only is the
religion of protestants"

Hence, since the bible, interpreted as the pro
testant interprets it, does not produce that unity of
faith, which is the acknowledged characteristic of
the true religion, what consequence again can be
more obvious than that, neither of its own nature
it is, nor by the designs of our great legislator is in
tended to be, the sole principle of Christian unity, or
the sole rule of Christian faith? The principle of
universal unity, or the sole rule of Christian faith,
should, if we consult only the plain dictates of com
mon sense, or still more the notions which we
entertain of the wisdom and beneficence of that
Being who shed the beams of faith upon the

THE PROTESTANT CHURCH. 55

W orld should possess evidences so striking, char
acters so obvious and distinct, that not even igno
rance itself could mistake or misunderstand them.
The rule which is the sole guide to all, should cer
tainly be obvious to all : designed for the ignorant as
well as for the learned ; for the vicious as well as
for the virtuous, it should be equally clear and
easy to the ignorant and the vicious, as it is to the
learned and the virtuous. At least, I repeat it,
being .the rule of aM, it should be obscure to none.
Supposed also as it is, to be the perfect rule and the
basis of belief, it ought necessarily, from the former
circumstance, to contain eveiy article which reason
should revere ; and from the latter, it should be so
strong, that piety may rest upon it without either
the disquietudes of danger, or the alarms of doubt.
The absence of any one article of faith, or any in
certitude respecting the stability of the basis upon
which faith and the hope of salvation should repose,
would certainly be great defects in an instrument
so vitally important. To suppose such defects
is an impeachment of the wisdom which dic
tated it; while also, to my apprehension, it ap
pears a violation of human wisdom to consider
or denominate such an instrument a mle. For,
why consider and denominate that a rule which re
quires another rule to interpret it, another rule to
complete it, another rule to give a rational convic
tion of its security? Hence, my brethren, after con-

56 ON THE WANT OF UNITY IN

sidering the nature of the sacred scriptures, which
St. Peter himself calls "difficult and obscure," af
ter considering the properties of the human charac
ter, whose varieties are infinite after viewing the
disunity of the reformed establishments, which agree
in nothing but their aversion to catholicity, I can
only say, that if indeed the sacred writings be, in
the designs of God, as the protestant asserts, the
rule of Christian unity, they are, as they produce
no unity, a very singular rule indeed they are
such as my reason would not suppose even the im
becility of the weakest human legislator would have
established, who wished to retain any thing in his
dominions like union of subordination, or unity of
justice. Or, if indeed they be designed to preserve
the unity of religion, I can only say, that I admire
much more those human legislators, who, creating
laws to preserve unity, subordination, and justice,
create also tribunals to interpret, and authority to
-enforce them I can only say, that if the same
principles were applied to moral duties, or to civil
obligations, not only would it be easy to find
-apologies for every vice, or motives to untie the
bands of every government, it would be easy to
demonstrate, that such conduct would be but the
rational exercise of liberty, and, in a multiplicity
<of cases, the exertion of virtuous heroism. In
short, I can only say, that if the bible be the sole
rule of faith, and the reason of each individual its

THE PROTESTANT CHURCH. 57

sole interpreter unity of faith, where men do be
come interpreters, is impossible, and because im
possible, since they are allowed to become inter
preters immaterial.

Sensible of the force of these objections, and im
portuned by the frequent repetition of them by
their catholic adversaries, a considerable number
of the reformers acquiesced in their wisdom, and
acknowledged the consequent absurdity of allowing
to all the unrestricted and unconditional privilege
of interpreting the sacred volumes. "Let all in
deed, they said, read and interpret them. But
then, let them do it cautiously, and let their judg
ments be formed with care and wise discretion.
Let them consult the voice of God, which, on such
occasions, will whisper tmth to reason, and convic
tion to the heart. The nature of truth, they added,
is such, that it is as easily distinguished by the spi
rit which moves ivithin MS, as the taste of food is
distinguished by the palate. The spirit, when
consulted, is to truth, which is the food of the soul,
what the palate is to meat, which is the food of the
body."

Specious as this improvement may appear on the
mode and privilege of interpreting the holy scrip
tures, yet it is specious only a mere difference of
terms to express the same thing. Or even if there
be any difference between this system, which they
denominate that of "the private spirit" and that
8

58 ON THE WANT OF UNITY IN

which I have before described, I should not hesitate
to say, that the former is the more dangerous and
pernicious of the two. It appears indeed to put
some restrictions upon liberty, and to stay the pro
gress of its evagations; but then it gives to fanati
cism what it takes away from liberty, and leaves
to pride, passion, bigotry, and the imagination, all
that infallibility of decision, which the protest-
ant deems so groundless in our holy church. Its
theoretical absurdities and practical mischiefs are
innumerable. However, it does not enter into the
plan of this discourse to point these out. Enough
for my present purpose it is, to shew, that it did
not establish that unity which its defenders had
hoped it was calculated to produce. The nature
of this system, I have said, is to leave each indivi
dual the privilege of explaining, indeed, the sacred
scripture, but of regulating his explanations, and
fixing his opinions of its doctrines, by the light, or
as they express it, "by the taste of the spirit."
Well; men explained, judged, and decided by
this "taste." And what was the consequence?
Why, as the "tastes of the spirit" unfortunately
yaried, this system of unity became a principle of
disunity. It gave birth to as many doctrines as
there were differences in the fancy; and as it
added conviction to each doctrine, by rendering
it the supposed dictate of God communicated
through the medium of the spin/, it added also

THE PROTESTANT CHURCH. 59

tiew enthusiasm to its defence. Such were the
mischiefs and confusion which it produced, that
the men, whose imprudence had first broached it,
were the first who had the prudence to abandon
it It undid what it was meant to have done; it
proved far too much, and therefore nothing it
proved any thing that folly dreamt, or that bigotry
suggested. The system is nearly, though not yet
entirely, abandoned. It is still the basis of some
enthusiasm still the foundation upon which repose
the ravings of the quaker, the cant of methodism,
and the pitiful errors of a multitude of ignorant
and deluded fanatics. But, these excepted, al
though some of the learned may lean the conviction
of their own illusions upon its dictates, there are
very few in the walks of science that now attempt
to defend it, as rational or secure.

Still, notwithstanding the failure of this once
warmly defended system of unity, as unity was yet
allowed to be the appendage of the true church,
the ingenuity of its authors was reduced to the
necessity of seeking out some other medium for its
support, or rather, some other expedient to call it
back. The peace of society, and the security of
their own interests rendered some expedient ne
cessary; for the tide of licentiousness, unrestrained
by any thing that could be called a barrier to
passion, had already broken down the mounds,
which the industry of wisdom had erected; and

60 ON THE WANT OF UNITY IN

inundating the walks and avenues of piety, of
truth, of religion, and of civil and domestic har
mony, it threatened in its fury to overwhelm and
annihilate them. The storm was awful and terri
fic. The men. whose passions had bade it rise,
were themselves affrightened as its horrors, and
trembled for its consequences. They endeavoured
to appease it. My brethren, it is here you have
again another instance of the inconsistency of error.
They endeavoured to appease the storm. And
what new means did they adopt to do it? Having,
hitherto, inculcated that the right of private judg
ment is the essential privilege of nature ; having es
tablished the bible as the sole rule of faith, and rea
son as its sole interpreter; having exploded creeds
as the artful intrusions of fallible and deluded men
upon the credulity of the deluded public, my bre
thren, what means could they adopt? Why, ab
surd, as it should appear, although not singular,
for absurdity is no singularity in heresy they
adopted the very methods which they had explod
ed ; they re-established the very mediums which a
little time before they had proclaimed it piety to
destroy, they called back the very objects which
they had just branded with eveiy odious appellation
of impositions, and acts of tyranny. They re-intro
duced creeds and confessions! And behold the still
greater contradiction ; they compelled their follow
ers to believe, that these creeds and confessions

THE PROTESTANT CHURCH. 61

were divine! They even did more; for, in most
instances, they compelled them to swear, not only
that they believed them to be divine, but to swear
also, that they really were divine. (K) The dis
belief of them was attended by excommunication,
and the disbeliever solemnly declared to be accurs
ed! My brethren, tell me what in this conduct is
most to be admired the awful mockery of the
maxims of the reformation, the intrepid insolence
of its leaders, or the tame submission of its insulted
partisans? In every point of view, save that of hu
man policy, it is an imposition and an absurdity.
In human policy, I allow it, as it places some re
straints upon the licentiousness of insubordination,
and the progress of impiety, it is artful, prudent,
and commendable the wisdom of protestant poli
cy, but the folly of protestant theology, the best
security of protestant goverments, but the gross vio
lation of protestant maxims. However, it is not
here the place to dwell on expressions of admi
ration, nor do the limits of a desultory discourse
admit many reflections on these inconsistencies.
My object is merely again to prove, that not even
these substitutions of policy in the room of princi
ple were adequate to introduce, or sufficient to sup
port, a real unity of belief. The case is, by a
strange incongruity in the reformers, along with the
restrictions of creeds, they still admit the princi
ple of liberty of faith, the principle of private inter-

62

pretation of the bible, and the principle, that all hu
man authority being fallible, is an unsafe criterion
of belief. The consequence is, that although the
stupidity of some may revere their creeds, and ho
nestly believe them, although the avidity of inter
est may piously swallow the oaths, which testify
a conviction of their divinity, and candidly hope
that such hunger is no crime yet is it manifest
from the writings, the conversation, and the con
duct of protestants in general, not only that they
are disunited in their faith, but that not even their
creeds are ties upon the opinions of the men who
have solemnly attested that they believe them.
Consult, for example, the writings and conversa
tion of our own countrymen, who without indeed
swearing that they believe the 39 articles, reli
giously subscribe their acceptance and veneration
of them. You find, from their writings, that
although many undertake to explain and defend
them, yet scarce any explain them in the same man
ner, or defend them with the same arms. And, as
for their conversation, you find that while mul
titudes treat them with all the levity of disrespect,
there are none but acknowledge that they greatly
want improvement. It is so, Mosheim attests, in
every protestant establishment. Men swear and
subscribe to creeds; but their oaths and subscriptions
are cobwebs, which the liberty of belief breaks
asunder every day. In short, I believe this true,

THE PROTESTANT CHURCH. 63

ancl I think it extremely natural I think, that if
you and I, my brethren, could read in the minds of
each individual protestant throughout the universe,
we should not find two, whose tenets, if formed
upon the rule of protestantism, are perfectly similar.
Where each one judges for himself, and believes
"as he pleases," how can they possibly be similar?

However, it is said and this is the last subter
fuge of protestant ingenuity there exists, it is said
triumphantly, between the reformed churches and
between the members of the reformation, not only
a tie of union, by which they mutually love each
other, but a real unity of faith, by which they
constitute one congregation of believers. They all
admit this is the band of unity the same great,
leading, and fundamental articles of tJie Christian
revelation. (L) I allow it, there is in the first
blush of this profession, something plausible and
striking something that is calculated to impose, and
that, in reality, does impose upon the understand
ings, not only of the superficial, but of men who
are reputed learned and conscientious. It certain
ly is the best, or rather the least bad, of all those
arguments, by which the protestant attempts to
prove, that there is any thing like unity in pro
testant belief. However, my brethren, plausible
as it may appear at first, yet this I am sure of, it
will require but a momentary appeal to your good
sense, to be convinced of its futility. The pro-

64

testant asserts, that the protestant societies are
united in belief, because they believe -the same
fundamental articles. But whence do they derive
the assurance, that there is aught in faith which is
not fundamental? Whence the conviction, that
there is aught in revelation which they are per
mitted to disbelieve with impunity, or to reject
without offence? The scripture, which they affect
to revere as the rule of their belief, no where
asserts, or even insinuates, that aught which Jesus
taught is not fundamental; on the contrary, the
scripture, without qualifying the dreadful threat
ening, asserts, that "ivlwever shall not believe shall
be damned" You seek in vain, for any distinction
between what is fundamental and what is not.
There is not a text, not a syllable, that would seem
to authorise such distinction. It is only solemnly
said, in plain and explicit terms, that " whoever
does not believe shall be damned" In reality, Jesus
revealed all, that he has revealed in order to be
believed, in the same manner as he has command
ed all, that he has commanded in order to be
observed. And therefore if the disobedience of
what he has ordered is criminal, why also is not
the disbelief of what he has revealed ? What
presumption it is for human weakness boldly to
determine what among the secrets of the divine
wisdom is fundamental, and what is not. Ought
not every thing to appear fundamental and ne-

THE PROTESTANT CHURCH. 65

cessary for man to believe, whiclj God has deemed
it fundamental and necessary for his salvation to
reveal ?

But did we admit that there are such objects as
fundamental and unfundamental articles of belief,
not even would this suffice to demonstrate, that
there exists aught like unity among the various
sects of protestantism. For the fact is, they do
not agree among themselves respecting the number
of their supposed fundamental articles. While
some of their writers have decided that there are
ten, others have determined that there are but six.
While some have proved that there are only four,
others more enlightened and more liberal have
demonstrated that there are only two. Their
disagreement respecting the nature of the funda
mental articles, is similar to this discordance about
their number. 'What is fundamental in one sect,
is quite unconsequential in another. The article
which forms the discriminating feature in each sect,
is always its most fundamental article; while this
very article is that which, to the apprehensions
of other sects, is not only of no moment, but the
basis of its heterodoxy. Such, in short, is the
variety and the dreadful latitude which the de
fenders of fundamental articles have given to this
pernicious opinion, that while few or none accord
in their notions of what precisely is fundamental in
religion, some have reduced it to a system very
1)

66 ON THE WANT OF UNITY IN

little removed from deism. Luther himself asserts,
that to be saved, it suffices to believe that Christ
is God, and that the Pope is Antichrist. Cappel,
still more tender, allows, that even the Mahome
tans may be saved, not because they believe that
Christ is God, but, good-natured Man! 'because
they do not curse him!'' In reality, by the system
of fundamental articles, any thing is fundamental
or unfundamental, that the fancy or the folly, the
reason or the weakness, the piety or the licentious
ness of each individual may deem such. And, if
it be a system of unity, I can only say, it is a
system not of unity, of belief, but of unity of dis
belief; not a system which links its defenders in
the bands of religion, but one which joins them
together in the ties of incredulity and impiety.

Thus, my brethren, I have this day alternately
exhibited to your view, upon a very narrow canvas,
the etchings of the state of our holy religion, and
the situation of the reformed societies. I have
placed the two portraits by the side of each other,
and compared them, I think, with candor. I
certainly could have no motive to draw one feature,
or to form one line inaccurately. In the catholic
church, you contemplated the pleasing scene of
one immense family animated with one mind,
moving by one principle, and guided by one
power. You beheld the picture of the "one
fold," under the direction of the "one shepherd."

THE PROTESTANT CHURCH. 67

Within its sacred paling, you saw reign that order
and tranquility, that security (L) and confidence,
that sameness of heart and willingness of obedience,
which distinguish the household of the elect, and
make it resemble the peaceful abodes of Sion.
Out of its precincts on the canvas, which exhi
bited to you the views of protestantism, you beheld
a scene of discord and division the prospect of
an immense multitude of men affecting to adore
religion, under all the varied forms of fanaticism
and fancy of mistaken piety and illusive liberty
of interested cant and bold licentiousness. Unity
or union there is none, save what under the
control of power rests upon the violation of prin
ciple; or, under the influence of indifference,
reposes under the convictions of prejudice and
ignorance. The consequence is, my brethren,
that if indeed the principle be correct, which I laid
down this morning as the criterion of the true
religion, and which also I remarked, the protestant
himself admits "that unity in faith is the essential
mark and appendage of the church of Christ, des
tined to distinguish it from all heretical and human
institutions" if this principle be correct, the conse
quence is, that since unity prevails in the catholic
church alone, the catholic church alone is the
church of Christ since disunity every where
reigns in the protestant church, the protestant
church is merely a human fabric erected by the
hands of passion.

68 ON THE WANT OF UNITY IN

It was in order to render these two consequences
palpable to your reason, that I laid before you, in
the next place, the causes from which they immedi
ately result. I explained to you the principle by
which the faith of the catholic is directed shewed
you, that it is the strongest tie with which the wis
dom of God could coerce the pride of reason, or
stay its evagations, leaving nothing to its determi
nation but calm acquiescence and unhesitating
submission for even the hesitation of submission,
or any diffidence of assent, are criminal repug
nances to the principle of catholic unity. I shew
ed you the maxim upon which the faith of the pro-
testant is hinged. This is, "to believe just what
he pleases" -just what his own reason may sug
gest, or his own judgment dictate. Now as reason
and judgment vary in almost every individual,
they must, of course, I shewed you, in almost
every individual produce different results. Unity,
certainly, is not the appendage of such maxim.
And hence again, my brethren, the consequence
is; since the system of unity requires a principle
of unity since the catholic church admits such
principle, and the protestant church rejects it
the consequence is, that the former possesses a
claim to unity, which the latter evidently wants.
And too another consequence is, resulting from
the preceding, that while the faith of the catholic
is the calm and rational confidence of conviction

THE PROTESTANT CHURCH. 69

leaning upon the rock of an authority, which he con
ceives infallible, the belief of the protestant, on
the contrary, if he be consistent, is but the fan
cied dictate of his own reason a bold speculation,
a hazarded conjecture, a supposed probability at
best.

Wherefore, my brethren, feeling and acting,
as I exhorted you to do this morning, be grateful
to God, whose mercy has placed you, without
any deservings in yourselves, in the path that is
marked by such beams of light; and let your gra
titude, manifested by your conduct, be such, as in
the eyes of your neighbours, may do credit to
your religion. Be grateful, and rejoice in the cir
cumstance, that you are advancing towards heaven
in the path which certainly conducts to it united
in faith with the far largest portion of the Christian
universe, and measuring the same steps which the
wise, the great, the good of every nation during
the long lapse of nineteen centuries, have confi
dently trod before you. Rejoice in these recol
lections. Only while you rejoice in being thus
united among yourselves, and with the saints in
the purity of your faith, labour also to be united
among yourselves and with them in the sanctity
of your morals.

As for the errors and disunity of our protestant
brethren and ah! these greatly damp the satis
factions of our security let us view them without

70 ON THE WANT OF UNITY IN

animosity, and blame them without severity
rather let us view them with pity, and if we blame,
blame them with the tender reproach of charity.
There is, indeed, much to blame in the crimes of
those, who in the habits of shepherds, but with the
hearts of wolves, first broke down the fences of
the sacred fold, and bade the sheep disperse so,
too, there is in the interested industry of those who
still withhold them from returning to the sacred
pastures. But in the wanderings of the sheep
at least, in the wanderings of an immense multi
tude of them there is much to excite compassion,
and much for charity to excuse. There is the
force of prepossession and prejudice created by the
habits of a pernicious education, and maintained by
the zeal of fanaticism; there are the influences of
ignorance fed by misrepresentation, fortified by the
declamations of the pulpit; there is the difficulty
of acquiring information, which is the fate of
many who have neither the facilities of obtaining
catholic books, nor the means of cultivating catho
lic acquaintance. There are these, with some
other similar and subordinate causes, which, I
greatly flatter myself, will plead powerfully in ex
cuse of the errors of our fellow brethren. To me
this hope is soothing in the extreme. It is soothing
to me to feel, that there is aught which may ex
tenuate the misfortunes of a class of men, among
whom it is my happiness, as it is my honour, to

THE PROTESTANT CHURCH. 71

number several of my warmest friends friends,
to whose kindness and liberality I owe the largest
tribute of my gratitude, and the best tokens of my
acknowledgment. However, since error is always
an evil, and almost always a crime since truth
is one of the established mediums of salvation, let
us, my brethren, secure of its possession ourselves,
supplicate the divine mercy, that its beams may be
poured upon them, and upon the minds of all who
are seated in the shades of heresy. Let us fer
vently pray, that, ceasing to adore the visions of
their fancy, and to venerate the illusions of a false
liberty, they may discover the real sanctuary of re
ligion, and become the humble worshippers at its
altars. Let us pray, that for ever united ourselves
in the onefold under the direction of the one shep
herd, they too may be joined to our happy number;
and that, forming one society in this life, we may
also form one joyful society, in the life to come.

ILLUSTRATIONS.

ILLUSTRATIONS.

(A) PAGE 7.

On the necessity of investigating the true religion.

Whoever admits the importance of religion,
must also, of course, admit the importance of its
investigation ; and whoever admits the existence
of only one religion, must, evidently, also admit the
necessity of its investigation must admit that its
discovery, if attainable, is not only the dictate of
piety, but the mandate of duty. The reason is,
because if their exist but one religion, then the
doctrines of this religion only, are the objects of
our belief; its precepts only have the power to
bind the will ; its cultivation only is the principle of
our salvation. Considered in this point of view
if this view of religion be correct it is evident
that as it is the first of our obligations to atten4

76 ILLUSTRATIONS

to our eternal interests, so it is the first of our ob
ligations to study well the medium of their attain
ment.

Now, that such is really the nature of the true
religion, is a circumstance, which only that impiety
contests, which denies the existence of revela
tion. The good sense of every rational believer
admits it as incontestible. Religion, all these al
low and they allude to one religion only religion
is the law of God communicated to mankind, con
taining precepts which it is our duty to obey, and
doctrines which it is our obligation to believe. It
is the obedience of the former united with the be
lief of the latter, that constitutes what we usually
denominate a Christian forms the rule of his ac
tions and opinions here, and the basis of his future
expectations in the life to come.

It would be wrong, within the limits of a note,
to insert a series of proofs that it is in the power of
God to impose restraints upon the understanding,
to compel our reason to venerate certain doctrines,
and to render the errors which are opposed to these
doctrines criminal. It would be also wrong, for
the same reason, to dwell upon the proofs that he
has actually done so. The evidence of the former
circumstance is incontestible. He can such is
his power and our dependence he can, as easily,
impose restraints on the understanding, as he can
upon the will; and ordain, with equal justice,

TO SERMON I. 77

that the disbelief of the doctrines which he teaches,
shall be sinful as the violation of the precepts
which he imposes. The evidence, too, of the
latter is admitted by the believers of revelation.
God has imposed restraints upon the understand
ing. He has proposed doctrines to our belief-
declared, that the disbelief of them is criminal,
and even hung round the crime of disbelief with
the same awful menaces and punishments with
which he threatens and avenges the violation of his
precepts. He that does not believe, he says, shall
be damned. (St. Mark, xvi. 16.)

These maxims are so luminous, that I could ad
duce a host of witnesses from almost every sect of
protestantism to attest them. " True doctrine"
says Dr. Rennel, "is the vital substance of religion.
without this a church is a dead and putrid carcase?
cumbering tlie ground in which it is placed ; its cere
monies are idle mockery ; its ministers burthensome
and useless stipendiaries on the public." Indeed, the
body of our national clergy, with one assent, admit
this important principle, and, at least four times
in the year, proclaim it solemnly to the public.
"Whoever," they awfully call out on these oc
casions, "whoever will be saved, before all things,
it is neceesary, that he hold the catholic faith ;
which faith," they add, with still more awful and
terrific energy, "except every one do keep whole
and undefiled, without doubt, he shall perish ever-

78 ILLUSTRATIONS

lastingly." Of the unity of truth, and the unity
of the Christian establishment, I could produce
witnesses even from the schools of modern philoso
phy; from our Bolingbrokes and Shaftesbury's,
from the D'Alemberts and Diderots for incre
dulity itself, under the occasional impulse of reason,
stands forward, sometimes, the defender of reli
gion. "The word of God," says Bolingbroke,
"is one; and one religion only can be taught by
it. There is but one foundation laid; and there
fore, but one religion formed."

The first consequence which results from these
principles, is this, that the disbelief of the true reli
gion, and the belief of error are, therefore, criminal
the disbelief of the true religion, because it is an
act of disobedience to the positive command of God,
whose veracity it either impeaches, or whose power
it virtually contests the belief of error, because it
is the substitution of the dreams of the imagina
tion, in the room of the maxims of eternal wisdom,
and implies the proud erection of a human tribunal
to judge "the unsearchable ways of God." Both
are criminal, because both are disorders of the un
derstanding, and both violations of the injunctions
of the laws of revelation.

But, to consider error, merely in itself, indepen
dently of the laws of revelation, which make it
sinful independently of the causes which give
it birth, of the effects which it produces, or of

TO SERMON I. 79

any attachment of the understanding to its sugges
tions abstracting from all these circumstances,
it is obvious, that error can, in no case, and on no
occasion, be a pleasing tribute from the creature
to the divinity. God is essentially the God of
truth; and error, therefore, is essentially repugnant
to his attributes. He is the God of truth, as he
is the God of virtue and perfection, and there
fore he can no more be pleased with error than he
can be pleased with vice. To be pleased with
either, he must cease to love himself. Of course,
as error cannot possibly be pleasing to the Almigh
ty, it can never, although it often appear the effect
of simplicity and accident and although often at
tended with sincerity and piety it can never be
the basis of meritorious faith never constitute the
platform of rational hope; never form the rock of
true and genuine charity. "There can be but
one religion," says Bishop Home, "that is true,
and the God of truth cannot be pleased with false
hood."*

* It has been asserted, of late years, but by men who are
more distinguished for their classical, than theological learning,
that variety in religion, like variety in nature, is pleasing to
the Divinity. The assertion is not unfrequently re-echoed
by the libertine and the Socinian, by a class of young men,
in particular, who talking much, yet thinking little, and
knowing less, are for ever discussing the serious subject of
religion. God pleased with variety in religion! Why,

80 ILLUSTRATIONS

Neither does this principle apply only to the
mass of profane errors, or to a certain description
of errors which may appear particularly repugnant
to some of the leading doctrines of religion. It
applies to each, or every error, that is opposed to
each or every truth that God has imparted to his
creatures. The reason is, since each doctrine of
religion is true, aud revealed, in order to be be
lieved since each doctrine emanates from the
same wisdom sanctioned by the same authority,
revealed in the same manner, and commanded
to be venerated under the same awful menace,
of course, each truth demands the same unhesita-

to the apprehension of good sense the idea is childish, and
to the feelings of piety, it is little short of blasphemy. Va
riety, in its general acceptation, is, no doubt, amusing; and
when it is the result of wisdom, it is calculated, certainly,
to excite gratification and delight. But variety in error,
which is unreasonable and wrong variety in falsehood,
which is criminal and forbidden variety in confusion,
which is disorderly and vicious, surely never can be pleasing
to the God of truth and order. Even human wisdom repro
bates variety like this. To God, it evidently must be odious.
I am partial to some of the sentiments of the excellent Bishop
Home, and will here present a short extract of his opinion
upon the subject of variety in religion. It is a very
sensible confirmation of what I assert. But another reason
for inserting it is, to hold out one of those palpable contra
dictions, which are for ever recurring in protestantism.
system of comprehension," says the good Bishop,

TO SERMON I. 81

ting faith, and each error, which, under such
circumstances, is opposed to any individual doc
trine, is criminal and profane. In reality, there
is nothing in religion, nothing in the sacred scrip
tures, nothing in reason itself, that would seem to
sanction the disbelief of any single article of revela
tion, or to excuse that liberty which presumes to
worship error in its stead. Even under the com
paratively unimportant conventions of civil society,
the member of each state is bound to obey each
law which the state enacts ; and he is punished if
either he oppose its operation, or violate its pro
visions. Not even the ignorance of the provisions

"which admits the jarring sects and opinions into the church,
is jumbling together an undigested heap of contrarieties
into the same mass, and making the old chaos the plan of
the new reformation." This is the language of wisdom.
Now for the contradiction. I will state the contradiction
upon the unexceptionable testimony of Mosheim. " If men,"
says the learned historian, "only take care to avoid too great
intimacy with socmianism and popery, they are deemed worthy
members of the reformed church. Hence," he adds, u in our
times, this great and extensive community comprehends in its
bosom Arminians, Calvinists, Supralapsarians, Sublapsarians,
Universalists(Gent. 18.) Most certainly; if the maxims
of the Bishop be correct and they are the maxims which I
have quoted as those of the English clergy then the conduct
of the reformed churches is preposterous. The new reforma
tion, as described by Mosheim, is the image of the ancient
chaos, as described by Home.
11

82 ILLUSTRATIONS

of a law, nor any error respecting its obligations,
are at a civil tribunal, justifications of its violation
or neglect. But, in short, to consult only the first
notions which each one entertains of the character
of a Christian he only is, really, a Christian, who
professes all the doctrines of Jesus Christ. Who
ever professes only part of them, or professes error
in their place, is, of course, only, in part, a Chris
tian and a Christian, in part, is in reality no
Christian at all. . He is a mere human philosopher,
with the name and mantle of a Christian. It is
at his peril, that man errs.

However, it is not heaven forbid I should
it is not that I mean to pass the same severe sen
tence of criminality upon all disbelief, or error, in
discriminately. Whatever criminality I have yet
assigned to error, I meant to assign it only to-
wilful error to error, which is the effect of in
difference, of inattention, of pride or passion
to error, which refuses to investigate its illusions,
or which cherishes them with partiality. And
error of this nature, (I think, I have proved it,) is
criminal. There are errors, I hope, which are
excusable ; or, if not excusable, whose shades of
criminality are certainly extremely different from
the darkness of the sin which I have just described.
'There are men in the walks of life, who err, yet
who honestly seek to instruct their ignorance, and
to resign their errors. Such men are true belie-

TO SERMON i. 83

vers, in desire, and unbelievers, by misfortune.
Their errors are an object of pity, not of censure.
There are some, who, sensible of their errors,
endeavour seriously to correct them; but deluded
by prejudice, endeavour to correct them by im
proper methods others, who, suspecting that the
tenets which they profess are false, are for ever in
quest of truth, but misled by misrepresentation,
look for it in paths that do not conduct to its abode
others, who admitting all the dangers of error,
would willingly embrace the truth; but not pos
sessing the facilities of discovering it, are also with
out the ardour to investigate it with sufficient indus
try. The shades of criminality in the errors of
these men, while different from each other, are
also very different from the errors of the dissipated,
the indifferent and the vicious. The tenderness
of charity centures them with compassion. She
pities, and she blames them pities them, because
in reality, they seek for the truth ; blames them
because they seek it by ineffectual methods pities
them, because their errors are not voluntary in
themselves; blames them, because they are volunta
ry in their causes because they do not employ all
those measures and precautions which the necessi
ty of truth and the importance of salvation ask
for; because, while they read the works, or listen
to the voice of men, who industriously misrepre
sent the doctrines of catholicity, they pertinaciously

84 ILLUSTRATIONS

refuse to consult the writings, or to attend to the
language of those who represent them accurately.
Not the broadest liberality, if reasonable, can ex
cuse religious error, which care, investigation, piety,
and impartiality would remove.

Hence, since such is the importance and necessi
ty of truth in the great system of revelation since
salvation is attached to its belief, and reprobation
to its rejection, the consequence is obvious, that, as
nothing to the feelings of reason is half so desira
ble as salvation, nothing to the instincts of wise self-
love half so frightful as reprobation, so the know
ledge of the means, by which the former may be
secured and the latter avoided, is, evidently, the
most momentous object which can chain down the
attention, or absorb the industry of mankind. The
knowledge of the true religion is not one of those
secondaiy acquirements, which, whoever is not
secure of its possession is at liberty, I do not say to
neglect, but to study without unremitting assidu
ity. First object of his interest, it should be also
the first object of his zeal, first principle of his
happiness, it should be also the first principle of his
ambition. The importance, in short, of any means
is estimated by the importance of its end; and the
knowledge of truth being an essential means of
salvation, is, consequently, correlative with the
importance of salvation. Of course, again, igno
rance, where industry can remove it, is not only

TO SERMON I. 85

the want of wisdom, it is also the want of common
sense and common self-love.

When, indeed, I take a view of the state of
society, I by no means wonder that the investiga
tion of truth is rare. Corrupted as society is, and
absorbed in the pursuits of pleasures, riches, and
human interests, I should wonder rather to behold
it common. As vice is almost universal and truth
is odious to vice, because it restrains its evagations
so the neglect of knowledge will nearly keep
pace with the prevalence of vice. There are, too,
opposed to the study of our religion besides the
prevalence of vice, various other causes the pow
er of prejudice, the influence of education, the con
trol of fanaticism, and the tyranny of human res
pect- Ours is that religion which is peculiarly
unpleasing to sensuality and the senses, because
it is a system of mortification and restraint.
Ours is that religion, which the illiberality of the
state excludes from honors, pensions, profits, and
employments. Therefore, taking society as it is
considering the nature of its propensities, and
the maxims of its philosophy, which are first to
provide for this world, and then only for the next
considering all this, there is no great room for
wonder, that the investigation of catholicity is not
common.

However, all in society are not dissipated and
vicious; all in this island, in particular, are not

86 ILLUSTRATIONS

unreasonable and unthinking, and therefore, al
though I do not wonder, that the investigation of
truth is not common, yet, I wonder that it is so
uncommon as it is. Allowances, no doubt, must
be made for the difference of aspect, in which, from
the varieties of dispositions, pursuits, and situations,
men see the features of different objects. To me,
as my pursuits incessantly fix my mind upon the
importance of religion, religion must naturally ap
pear more interesting than to those who only oc
casionally turn their attention to it. But, after
all, it is not bigotry to assert, that not only the
indifference of the great herd of society who refuse
to seek out the paths of truth, is the extreme of
folly their's is perhaps equally great, who posses-
ing a love of truth, and the means of finding
it possessing dispositions for virtue, and even
practising virtue in a certain method -yet, victims
to prejudice, and the sport of illusion cheated by
misrepresentation, and deceived by ignorance, sit
down indolently secure, affectionately caressing a
monster, which in its generation, is the offspring
of passion, and in its effects, may prove the princi
ple of their reprobation. Indolence is an act of fol
ly, where only the body is exposed to danger;
but it is the worst kind of folly, where the soul is
exposed to ruin. And hence, how singular ought
it to appear, that even among men reputed virtuous
,and wise among men, who in every other pur-

TO SERMON I. 87

suit, are distinguished for their prudence and
assiduity men, who, in all other cases, are restless
and uneasy till they possess the conviction of
complete security who, when there is question
merely of ascertaining the accuracy and validity
of a title-deed, are all solicitude and industry-
how singular, that even among these, indifference
to the most serious and momentous of all their
interests, should not only be common, but almost
universal! I have already called their conduct
folly, and therefore it is needless to say, that it
forms a frightful contrast with the wisdom of those
holy men, who have seen the lamp of life extin
guished in the study of religion of those martyrs,
who have shed their blood in its defence of those
great and respectable characters in every age, who
have sought it amid dangers and persecutions, and
sacrificed to its possession every human and social
comfort. Certainly, every thing is extremely
reprehensible and extremely alarming in this con
duct.

With my mind convinced of the importance of
religious truth, and my reason impressed with the
nature of protestant principles, I have sometimes
placed myself in imagination, in the situation of a
protestant, and it has always seemed to me, that
did I reason only from those principles, the keenest
reproach of indiscretion would meet my feelings
harrowing up my sensibility, and terrifying my

88 ILLUSTRATIONS

apprehensions. What ! it appears to me, I should
often say, what ! there is but one true religion ;
and what security with my principles can I possibly
possess, that mine is that only true one ? There is
but one path to heaven, and what conviction have
I as a protestant, that the path in which I walk, is
that which will lead me to it? As a protestant,
if I be a consistent one, I have no security, no
conviction, but my own private judgment; and
since that is so often misled since it is opposed,
in the circumstance of religion, not only to the
judgment of the infinitely larger portion of the
Christian world, but even to the whole Christian
world, during the long lapse of many centuries
how can I be wisely confident, or rationally se
cure, that it may not that it does not here impose
upon my credulity? No doubt my insecurity is in-
contestible ; and therefore, if wise, as I know there
is but one path to heaven as I know that my sal
vation depends upon walking in it as I know too
that my life is uncertain, and that even to-morrow
may, possibly, call me to the divine tribunal-
if wise, it is evidently urgent that I immedi
ately and seriously attempt to find it out, not
suffering my industry to repose, till I can without
apprehension feel that my confidence is not rash
ness, nor my security presumption. Thus, it seems
to me, would my sensibility reason, were I a pro
testant. It is certainly thus that the protestant
should reason.

TO SERMON I. gg

In life, no one is completely reasonable, but he
that knows the true religion, or he that seeks it
properly no one completely happy, but he that is
secure of professing it. Doubt and insecurity in
such case and it must be the case of the consistent
protestant are unhappiness and folly. Let then
the adversaries of our religion, suspending, at least,
their prejudices against it, let them consult its
maxims and study its claims to their veneration.
It has claims to their veneration, of which they
are not aware. Conducted by the hand of wisdom,
let them only have the fortitude to survey them.
It is the religion which long and alone enlightened
all the civilized portions of the universe, expell
ed the darkness and clouds of idolatry and su
perstition, and numbered among its professors the
learned and virtuous of fifteen centuries. It is
the religion which still sheds its beams over every
part of the globe the religion of the most polish
ed and extensive kingdoms ; and the religion too,
which immense multitudes, in each of these great
divisions the learned, the wise, the philosopher,
the statesman, and the hero deem it their happi
ness and their honor to adore. With these claims,
had it even no other but it has countless others
with these claims only, it should, to any
mind that is not ruled by prejudice, appear to
merit investigation. The consequence would be
let who it may, be the fortunate man that makes it
12

90 ILLUSTRATIONS

he will, I do not say, embrace our religion
his passions, his interests, his self-love, may pre
clude that effect he will, at least, respect it; he
will own, that it is very different from what his
ignorance had been taught unjustly to suppose it
own that while his own faith rests upon a pillar
of sand, the faith of the catholic rests securely upon
the centre of a rock while his own confidence
reposes upon conjectures, possibilities, and per-
hapses, the confidence of the catholic reposes, in
calm conviction, upon that immortal and immove-
able basis, which though buffetted, incessantly,
during the lapse of eighteen centuries, "not the
powers of hell have been able to overthrow."

Centre tous les dangers 1'Eglisenous r^ssure;
La raison est douteuse; et la foi tou jours sure.

BERNJS.

(B) PAGE 7.

The protestant, by his principles, peculiarly obliged
to investigate the tmth of religion.

THE circumstance which constitutes the chief
difference between the catholic and the protestant,
and which must, for ever, while it subsists, keep
open the unhappy breach between their respective

TO SERMON I. 91

communities, is the difference of the principles
which guide the wisdom or weakness of 'their rea
son, or which regulate the nature and convictions
of their belief. The catholic conceiving, that the
great legislator, who has communicated his laws
and a system of religion to mankind, has also esta
blished a tribunal to watch over their observance,
and secure their integrity, reveres the authority of
his church, as a rule, which, in cases of perplex
ity and doubt, he believes it more rational and safe
to follow, than the dictates of his private fancy.
Indeed, induced by good sense to conceive, that
such an institution is essential, if the unity of faith
be essential, and convinced by the strongest evi
dences of the sacred scriptures, that it has really
been established, he considers the pastors of his
church as the interpreters of the law of revelation,
and the organs of the divine authority. He reveres
their decisions as infallibk. The discussion, of
course, which is the result of doubt the examina
tion, which is the effect of insecurity, are circum
stances which he considers superfluous and im
proper. It is even a contradiction, that he who
admits an infallible authority as the guide of his
belief, should look upon the investigations of

his own fancy, as essential to his security.

But, the protestant, diametrically the reverse of all
this bold and intrepid in his ideas emancipated
and free in his judgment, establishes, as the sole

93 ILLUSTRATIONS

rule and arbiter of his belief, the dictate of his own
opinion, reposing upon the dictate of his own ex
amination. Conceiving, that the church had fallen
into error, and that all assemblages of men, be
cause men, are liable to error considering that
all extraneous authority is unstable, fallible, and
human, and therefore, as unstable, inadequate to
give belief its proper ^firmness, for faith is essen
tially immoveable as fallible, unequal to insure
it a necessary degree of confidence, for faith admits
no doubts as human, impossible to form a sub
stantial basis, for faith must be divine considering
also, that the use of reason is to investigate and
examine, and that Paul commands the faithful
(1 Thes. v. 21.) to examine all and to hold only to
what is good considering all these circumstances,
he concludes, and it is the leading maxim of his
religion, that faith and security have no other
wise foundation than the conviction of individual
reason resting upon the process of individual ex
amination, comparison, and discussion. The adop
tion of this principle was, indeed, the necessary
result of the rejection of the authority of the
church. Circumstanced as Luther was, the re
formation could not proceed without it. Accord
ingly, it was the first maxim which he pressed
upon his bold but deluded followers. " Why"
he said often to them, " why make so much noise,
and eternally teaze us, with the name of the church.

TO SERMON I. 93

Know, that we judge the church, and the apostles
and angels too. Only read ; and, as the apostle tells
you, hold to that, ivhich you find is good." The
principle has not died away with Luther. It has
been the fundamental principle of protestantism,
through every period to the present. When it
is done away, the fabric of protestantism falls to
ruin. " It is," says the orthodox Dr. Prettyman,
u the tmalienable privilege of every Christian to
form his own religious opinions, and to worship
God, in the manner which appears to him most
agreeable to the scriptures. And every diminution
of this right, every mode of compulsion, and every
species of restraint, which is not required by the
public safety, is inconsistent with the idea of a
moral agent, and in the strongest degree repugnant
to the spirit of the gospel." (Serm. before the
lords.) " If any man," says the learned Archbishop
of Tuam, " neglect to inquire into the religion which
he has embraced, let him not think that God will
excuse him at the last day, on the pretext that
his parents or friends brought him up in that reli
gion. A Jew, a Turk, or a heathen might excuse
himself in the same manner. No, look into your
bibles, there you will find, St. Paul directs you to
prove all things, and to hold fast that which is
good. It is impossible to distinguish false from
true teachers, unless a man tries, examines, and
searches into their doctrines." But it is Dr. Wat-

94 ILLUSTRATIONS

son, whose words I have often quoted, and often
shall quote, who most correctly, and most classi
cally, defines the nature of the religion of the
protestant. It is, he says, " et sentire quce velit et
quce senliat loqui to believe what he pleases, and
to profess ivhat he believes"* "Hence," he adds,
with great consistency, "we are far from wishing
you to trust the word of tJie clergy, for the truth of

* The above definition of prolestant liberty is taken from
Tacitus, and expresses the broad measure of liberty which
prevailed under the reigns of Nerva and Trajan. There are
men whose supercilious judgments have thought, that it
would have been more becoming the prudence or learning
of a bishop to have produced a definition of religious liberty
from St. Paul, rather than from a pagan. But the case is,
there is nothing in St. Paul that expresses the nature of pro
testant liberty, either so accurately or so neatly. However,
I do think, that, if indeed it were wise to fetch the definition
of the Christian religion from pagans at all, the definition
of Seneca would have been, though not quite so correct
yet wiser, and from a bishop, more judicious. Illud credere
quod decet, non quod licet to believe, not what each one plea
ses, but what is right; because as another old writer of similar
proverbs or sentences say, " Cui omne licet credere quod vult,
plus milt credere quam licet; the man that is allowed to believe
all thai he, chooses, will choose to believe more than he should
believe.' 1 '' But, after all, as the definition expresses very accurate
ly the nature of the boundless liberty of the philosophical sys
tem of protestant theology, I prefer it to any other which acci
dent has ever cast into my way from any other protestant di
vine. Dr. W. is the most consistent protestant divine with
whose writings I am conversant.

TO SERMON I. 95

your religion; we beg of you to examine it to the bot
tom, to try it, to prove it, and not to hold it fast, un
less you find it good."

Therefore, examination is the essential obligation
of every individual protestant. No one, by the
maxims of protestantism, is wise, consistent, or
rationally secure without it. The circumstance
of professing himself the member of any particular
establishment, because he was born, baptized, and
educated in it, is by these maxims, the veriest pre
judice, and the most dangerous credulity which
his weakness or his reason can adopt. Each mem
ber of each protestant establishment is such, by his
own maxims, because, after mature discussion, he
has convinced his own good sense, that the tenets
of such establishment are alone unadulterate and
divine. Were he a member upon any other prin
ciple, he would violate the most essential maxim
of the reformation build protestant faith upon a
popish basis or rather, as some of the reformers
observed to Luther, he would, if consistent, run
back to the pale of popery. In short, it is true
and incontestible, that by the leading maxim of
protestantism, no one is a consistent protestant,
whose belief does not lean upon the conviction of
his own reason, resulting from the process of ex
amination and comparison. Thus, the believer of
the 39 articles is such, not because his church or
his father believes the 39 articles, but because

96 ILLUSTRATIONS

after weighing them seriously, he has discovered,
as he supposes, that they are true. The Lutheran
is such, not because Luther believed, or "said so,"
but because he has ascertained, that what Luther
believed and said, is divine. The Calvinist such,
not upon the authority of Calvin, but upon the
evidence, that Calvin's doctrines are revealed.
Each, in each establishment, is as much obliged
to discuss the tenets of his religion, as the man
who formed it first the Anglican, as much as
Cranmer; the Lutheran, as much as Luther; the
Calvinists, as much as Calvin. Whatever may be
the piety, talents, or learning of these apostles, or
indeed of any number of men, although in a va
riety of cases, and on many subjects their authority
may create a strong presumption of their truth and
evidence, yet in religion, by the constitution of
protestantism, to believe upon such presumption,
is not only very unwise partiality, but, as faith
must be divine, and therefore founded upon nothing
human, very profane and criminal partiality the
violation of the laws of faith.

I will not pretend to determine to what precise
point the labours of protestant investigation should
proceed. From the nature of protestant maxims,
it should be very widely extended indeed : for as
every reformer and heresiarch, with equal confi
dence, and with equal authority, lays claim to the
exclusive possession of the truth, it should extend

TO SERMON I. 97

to the comparative estimate and merits of each and
all their doctrines. This, from the import of pro-
testant principles, however difficult or absurd it
may appear, should, in reality, appear necessary.
For, why may not what Sabellius, or Donatus,
or Arius believed and taught, be equally correct
and true, as what Cranmer, or Luther, or Calvin
have intruded upon their followers? However,
as such discussion is impossible, although by a
foolish principle necessary, I will suppose and
admit, that wisdom may dispense with a con
siderable portion of it. The investigation of
every religion, in order to ascertain the true one,
would be like the experiment of trying every kind
of medicine, in order to find out the best.

But behold, at least, what no protestant can
neglect, both without the violation of his own
principles, and the violation of the interest which
he is bound to feel for his salvation. He has
abandoned and divorced himself from the bosom
of his parent church; from that society, which
once the only prevailing, is still the principle one,
which enlightens and guides the Christian universe
he has detached himself from it, and associated
himself to a society created within the interval of
a few years, under the auspices of a few obscure
individuals. The act of separating from one
church, and of associating with another, is, certain
ly, not only of its own nature, infinitely momentous,
13

98 ILLUSTRATIONS

but, if the former should chance to be the true
church, and the latter, consequently, spurious, it is
one of the most dreadful acts which reason, in its
evagations, or the passions, in their violence, can
commit. Even the intrepidity of Luther trembled
at its danger. "1 turned pale" he says, "and
often stood aghast, on the brink of the precipice,
which seemed to yaivn beneath me." It evidently
calls loudly for serious investigation. It is evident
ly prudent, that the man who ventures to perform
it, should know well the grounds and motives
of his conduct should know well the doctrines,
and examine well the mutual claims of the two
churches, which he thus places in competition, in
order that he may be rationally convinced of the
superior excellence of that, to which he thinks
proper to give the preference. This, it will be
allowed, was necessary, or wise at least, at the
awful period of the reformation, for men who had
been born, baptized, and educated in the bosom
of catholicity. Well, the necessity of such know
ledge and examination is just equally urgent at
the present epoch, as it was on that occasion; not
merely because the conviction which arises from
examination, is the acknowledged basis of pro-
testant belief not merely because the authority of
the protestant establishment is no authority, to the
protestant, since he considers it essentially fallible
-but because (the influences of example apart)

TO SERMON I. 99

it is just as criminal, at present, to remain separated
from the church of Christ, as it was, at the period
of the reformation, to separate from it; just as
sinful to continue in the wilful abandonment of
the truth, as it was, at first, wilfully to abandon
it. In both cases the crime is great, because, in
both cases there is a rejection of what God had
commanded should be believed, and the adoption
of what he had reprobated, under the threat of
eternal punishment. As for the age of error, or
the duration of the interval of separation from the
true church, or the circumstance of being born of
parents who have been long separated from it, these
are no more apologies for the profession of error,
or for the continuation in such separation, than
the age of vice, or the long practice of vice, or
the misfortune of being born of vicious parents,
are excuses for the perpetration of vice. Indeed,
comparing the conduct of the modern protestant,
with that of the first protestant separatist (whose
conduct, it is universally admitted, nought could
justify, but the strong conviction of the errors of
his parent church operating from the knowledge
of its tenets) comparing their conduct together,
and measuring both by the principles of pro
testantism, there is no doubt, but by those maxims,
the conduct of the former, and his distance from
the parent institute, is often less justifiable than
the actual separation of the latter. JVb separation,

100 ILLUSTRATIONS

by proteslant principles, is justifiable, which is not
the effect of conviction proceeding from serious ex
amination. Therefore, if the modern protestant
have examined the subject less seriously than the
early separatist, if his conviction be less enlighten
ed, of course, his conduct is less justifiable, and
his continuation in the state of separation from the
ancient church, by another consequence, is more
criminal. Yes, and did I even suppose and admit,
that Luther and his associates acted right in de
taching themselves from the church, yet would it
be I have proved it a violation of the rule of pro
testantism to abandon it, or to remain in a state of
separation from it, upon their authority; because bjr
that rule, authority is nothing; self-conviction
alone is every thing wisdom, light, grace, the
voice of the divinity. But, suppose the case, that
Luther and these men had acted wrong! Then,
doubtless, it is wrong- to imitate them. There is
nothing in reason or religion to justify the imitation
of them; because there is nothing in reason or
religion that justifies the imitation of bad example
particularly when the criminality or the impro
priety of the example can be detected. In short
for I have dwelt too long upon the proofs of what
hardly needed any proof such, by the maxims of
the reformation, is the necessity of an enlightened
conviction of truth, and such by the injunctions
of revelation, the necessity of its profession, that

TO SERMON I. 101

there is nothing that can justify the wilful rejection
of its doctrines; nothing that can excuse the wilful
separation from its authority. In religion, I have
said before, whoever errs, errs at the peril of dam
nation. It is equally said of the misleader and the
misled (although, certainly, the measure of their
punishments will differ) it is equally said, whoever
believes not shall be condemned.

Therefore, should the protestant's disbelief and
rejection of catholicity, to be consistent, be essen
tially enlightened the result of calm discussion,
and the effect of impartial comparison. But it is
when I come to investigate his claims to these acts
of wisdom -when I measure his knowledge of our
religion, I know not what I most experience, whe
ther contempt for his ignorance, astonishment at
his inconsistency, or pity for his insensibility to the
awful interests of his salvation. I have read a mul
titude of our modern protestant writers I have
conversed with a considerable number of the more
polished members of the establishment and I have
ascertained what is the share of information, which
in the lower walks of life, the vulgar possess of our
religion: and I have no hesitation in asserting it
the writer possesses little the gentlemen less the
vulgar none. I will not attribute the strange asser
tions of our protestant writers to wilful misrepre
sentation. I would rather impeach the head than
the heart; the understanding, rather than the

102 ILLUSTRATIONS

will: and therefore, considering them as the re
sults of their opinion, and the combinations of their
ideas there is no boldness in saying it they are
ignorant, stupidly ignorant, of our tenets. Or,
if indeed, they do know them, then they are male
volent and criminally illiberal in our regard. I
could produce and shall indeed produce in the
series of this work extracts from the works of
many protestant writers, which proves a measure
of ignorance, that is disgraceful to the scholar, and
a degree of illiberality, that is still more disgraceful
to the man.

The circumstance of the extreme ignorance of
catholicity, which prevails in this nation, is singu
lar. It is singular that in a nation, whose writers
are innumerable, and where almost every writer
drags the catholic religion into notice, nothing is
so little known as the catholic religion. You see
it, with solemn insult, derided in nearly every
publication, and its mysteries, insulted objects!
you find them, every where, refuted with a weight
of authority that resembles infallibility with an
air of triumph that mocks the force of evidence.
In reality, to judge from these works, there is no
species of evidence that is half so evident, as the
absurdity of popish doctrines; and yet, amidst this
host of enlightened adversaries, I do honestly be
lieve neither am I singular in my belief -that
there are scarce twenty individuals, who have made

TO SERMON I. 103

the principles and tenets of popery the serious ob
jects of their candid investigation. I should be
glad to know the protestant, who, under the
guidance of the leading maxim of protestantism,
with wisdom to diffide in his own religion, and
with courage to interrogate ours, has made ours
the subject of his meditations and industry has
traced its features in their proper forms and atti
tudes -consulted the writers who represent it ac
curately its advocates, not its enemies or if its
enemies, its advocates, as well as them has appre
ciated the truth of our mysteries, not by the falla
cious testimony of the senses, but by the wise attes
tations of well authenticated revelation has em
ployed that time, assiduity, and method, in verifying
the divinity or corruption of our religion, which he
would do, or perhaps has done, in verifying the au
thenticity or falsehood of a title deed, or in the
examination of a suit or litigation, upon which his
fortune and his comforts may depend in life. Alas !
much, I fear, that the wisdom of protestant piety
produces few inquirers of this description. May
God increase their number!

As for the ignorance of our religion, which
prevails either in the polished circles of society,
among the occupied, or the vulgar, though there
is much reason to blame, there is little reason to
wonder at it. Where the real fountains of know
ledge are stopped up, and its streams supplied only

104 ILLUSTRATIONS

from the feculence of error, and the exhalations of
malevolence and where these are the only sour
ces, from which the protestant public derive their
notions of catholicity, of course, it would be vain
to look for any thing like wise and accurate infor
mation among them. But even this circumstance
apart, in the great circle of society, the rich are too
much emersed in pleasure, the busy are too
busy, and the vulgar too indolent, to make truth
the serious subject of their industry; above all,
where it is of such nature as to place restraints up
on their passions.

The world is generally averse
To all the truth it hears and sees ;
But swallows nonsense and a lie,
With greediness and gluttony.

However, it is not the mere aversion which the
world in general entertains for truth, nor even the
impurity of the source from which the protestant
draws his opinions of catholicity, that alone are
the causes of his ignorance of our doctrines. By
an act of inconsistency, w^hich is quite unpardonable
in a religion which bids each member "examine all
things , and hold fast that only which is true;"
(Thes. v. 21.) which commands each individual
to be (by this process of examination) fully persua
ded in his own mind.; (Rom. xvi. 5.) the zeal
of the protestant clergy endeavours to shut up

TO SERMON I. 105

to the laity, as they do indeed to themselves, the
only sources from which the correct knowledge of
our doctrines can be acquired. They derive their
flocks from the limpid stream to the muddy ditch.
Examine all things, they call out, but beware not
to examine the writings of the catholics ; see you
attend not to their instructions, nor even frequent
their society. Thus did the late liberal and en
lightened Dr. Porteus, after the equally liberal and
enlightened Archbishop Seeker, caution the pro-
testant public; thus, recently, has acted the timid
and pious Dr. Shute, and thus, incessantly, act a
great portion of the established clergy. " We ac
cuse" they add, "tJw papists of emors" (which the
papists,they should add also, very positively deny.)
"The accusation is extremely important." (And
their denial of it, they should again add, if well
founded, is as important as the accusation.) How
ever, no matter; believe tlie accusation; and disre
gard, entirely, the denial: be sure not to attend to
any proofs, or evidence, or vindication, which the
advocates of popery bring forward in its support.
Such is the general process of protestant wisdom
in our regard. What a mockery of justice, what
an insult to common sense! It is the same thing
as to say, "Examine and believe what is false,
but neither discuss, nor give any credit to what is
true; believe the accuser, who is an enemy, but
deny a hearing to the accused." The same thing
14

106 ILLUSTRATIONS

as to say, "Examine religion, if you please, but
examine not the only religion, which it is most
your duty to discuss or if you do examine it,
examine it not in the mediums where you may
really trace its divinity, but in those which misre
present it in the writings of men, who either
know it not, or who knowing it, deride it. And
behold, it is precisely thus that popery is examined.
Setting aside every maxim, which he, every day,
pursues in every other interest, the protestant
judges and decides upon the contested subject of
catholicity a subject the most momentous that
can engage his piety from the partial and angry
documents of interested adversaries, from fake-
hoods, nonsense, and fabrications. So great is the
hostility which the declaimers against popery have
impressed upon the public mind, that a popish
vindication is seldom read, a popish protestation sel
dom heeded. Not eloquence, upon this subject,
nor even evidence, have any influence upon the
feelings of the protestant. We do sometimes pre
sent both, in order to persuade him to be, if not
completely wise and just in his own regard, at least,
not to be completely unwise and unjust in regard
of us. But,

His eyes fast shut, his fingers in his ears,
he totally disregards us. The consequence is, even

TO SERMON I. 107

in this age of learning, there are few protestants
so enlightened, as not piously to believe that the
poor deluded papist honestly adores [his wooden
Gods, worships the canvas of his pictures, and
looks up for grace to the ivory of his crucifix
few but either indignantly abhor, or kindly pity
us, as idolaters and the sons of Antichrist ?

But, what is the conclusion which I deduce
from this note ? Merely this that the protestant
being, by his own principles, obliged to bottom
his faith upon conviction resulting from investiga
tion, and by the interest, which he is bound to
feel for his salvation, tied to know well the grounds
of his separation from the parent church is con
sequently obliged and tied to make the study of
the principles and doctrines of catholicity the
serious objects of his attention. His refusal to do it
is an act of imprudence and inconsistency, which
there is nothing in religion, or in his own religion,
that can justify. In his own religion, in particular,
and according to his own principles, his conviction,
without such investigation, is but prejudice, and
his sincerity, but presumption his piety itself is
a flattering illusion, that cheats the weakness of
his self-love. And yet, where is the protestant
who has made such investigation? The fact is,
few protestants are consistent.

108 ILLUSTRATIONS

(C) PAGE 7.

On the method of investigating the true religion.

THERE is no circumstance, which in the case
where the protestant ventures to discuss our reli
gious tenets, contributes more effectually to con
firm his errors, and fix his prejudices, than the
method which he, almost uniformly, pursues on
such occasion.

It is incontestibly true, that as there is, in the
various departments of science, a variety in the
nature of the objects which it embraces, and a
difference in the nature of its truths, so there
must also exist a variety and difference in the
modes and principles, which wisdom employs in
their investigation. Thus, for example, there is
an essential difference between the nature of phy
sical, mathematical, and historical truths; and,
of course, there is a difference between the prin
ciples and process of reasoning, by which the mind
either judges of their certainty, or establishes their
evidence. It judges of the certainty, and establishes
the evidence of physical truths, by the testimony
of the senses; of mathematical truths, by the
analogy with the ideas; of historical truths, by

TO SERMON I. 109

the laws of credibility, as they are known by the
rules of criticism. It is so in every branch of
science. Each science has its peculiar object, and
each object its peculiar principle, by which alone
its investigation must be pursued. To investigate
the truths of one science, by the principles of
another, would be not only a violation of the dic
tates of good sense, but the prolific source of every
species of absurdity.

These principles are evident in regard of human
ficience ; and they are, if possible, still more evi
dent in regard of revealed religion. Revealed
religion is the manifestation which the divine
wisdom has been pleased to make to man, of a
code of laws, comprehending a variety of moral
precepts for the regulation of his piety, and a cer
tain number of mysterious doctrines, for the
exercise of his faith. It were superfluous here to
undertake to prove, either that God can thus
communicate his will to his creatures, or that he
really has communicated it. Both these circum
stances are admitted by the whole Christian world.
The doctrines, therefore, of revelation, it is ad
mitted, which are destined for the exercise of faith,
are mysteries objects placed beyond the reach of
the human understanding supernatural objects,
which reason cannot measure abysses, which the
imagination cannot fathom. Indeed, whoever sup
poses such a thing as religion, supposes naturally

110 ILLUSTRATIONS

such objects as mysteries; because religion being
a commerce or relation between God and man,
between a Being that is infinite, and a creature
that is finite, should obviously comprise something
that is supernatural, and something that is natural,
something inconceivable, and something conceivable,
something that would prompt the mind to adore
the divine greatness, and something that would
urge it to obedience and love.

Hence, having determined the nature of revela
tion, it is evident what also should be the nature
of the method by which its investigation should be
conducted; and the nature of the principles by
which its certainty should be established. The
doctrines of revelation are mysterious. Therefore,
it is evidently fruitless for reason to attempt to mea
sure them; for that were attempting to measure
what it is already supposed as infinite, by the little
scale of what is finite. It is fruitless to undertake to
compare them with the properties of sensible objects,
for that were comparing things which, it is again
admitted, have no analogy to each other. The
method plainly to ascertain the certainty of a mys
tery is not with profane boldness, to attempt to
penetrate its properties. But, what then is the
method which wisdom and piety should pursue?
Merely this ascertain the evidences and attesta
tions of revelation, ascertain whether the pillar of
light, which moves before the mind, be the light

TO SERMON I. HI

of wisdom and the beam of truth; and whether
the point, at which it stops, be also the temple
of the Divinity ascertain then whether in this holy
sanctuary God speak and deliver his sacred oracles.
In that case, as it is always wise to follow the
beam of evidence, and always necessary to believe
the Divinity when he speaks, the mind, under the
conviction that she is evidently commanded to hear
his voice, listens, believes, and adores. But ex
ample will best explain the nature, the wisdom,
and necessity of this process. Let us suppose that
an unbeliever wished to ascertain the truth of
Christianity. To act by the rules of commun sense,
he would, in the first place, not instantly immerge
his reason into a cloud, which the eye cannot pene
trate, not immediately call before the tribunal of
his senses, objects, which are not the objects of the
senses. If he did this, his incredulity would be
confirmed at once, and he would pronounce Chris
tianity to be folly, because himself had the stupidity
to discuss it foolishly No, he proceeds in this man
ner beginning with the ancient scriptures, which
are the introduction to revelation, and a part of
revelation, he studies their authenticity, their vera
city, their authority : he weighs the events which
they relate ; the prophecies which they announce ;
the figures which they describe; and he applies
these to the great mystery which they were destined
to prepare, measuring the certainty of the pro-

ILLUSTRATIONS

phecies, by the evidence of their fulfilment, and
the signification of the figures, by the reality of
their accomplishment. He then discusses the
history of the life of Messias; interrogates his
actions, considers his miracles, contemplates his
death, views his resurrection. If these evidences
satisfy him, he, at once, admits revelation, and
as revelation is the voice of God proposing mys
teries to his creatures, he hears the mysteries and
reveres them he hears God and believes him.

It is thus the unbeliever reasons, when he dis
cusses, with wisdom, the certainty of revelation;
it is thus he acts, when he becomes a Christian by
the process of rational investigation. As for the
circumstance of not being able to comprehend the
mysteries of revelation, that neither hurts his feel
ings, nor distresses even the pride of his reason.
He has already convinced himself that they are
true, that they are a new and superior order of
things, instituted by God, and by him ordained
to be believed by his creatures for the exercise of
their obedience. Hence, he reveres them, with
humility, without even wishing presumptuously to
penetrate their sublimity. Indeed, he reveres them
the more, because their sublimity out-measures the
little reach of his contracted understanding. Feel
ing that the distance betwixt God and himself is
infinite, so he feels, that it is reasonable to admit,
that the distance should be also infinite between*

TO SERMON I.

the thoughts of God and his own, or between di
vine and human objects. In reality, sublimity in
religion is a recommendation to religion, not an
argument against it; while, at the same time, the
docile veneration of the sublimity which reason
cannot reach, is the circumstance that gives faith
its efficacy and its merit. But, in short, the case
is this revelation is a fact ; and it is of this fact
only, that reason can form a judgment The re
vealed objects are truths placed out of the circle
of human things. It is enough for man to prove,
that they certainly are revealed ; enough for him
to know, that their certainty is sanctioned by the
infallibility of the Divinity.

The method that I have delineated, by which
the unbeliever investigates the truth of Christianity,
is precisely the method by which the protestant
should discuss the divinity of catholicity. The
two cases are exactly, not only analogous, but
parallel. Both are facts. And the same princi
ples, the same process of reasoning, which establish
the former, establish the latter. There is a pillar
of light that conducts the inquirer to the sanctuary
of catholicity, as it does to that of revelation.
There are prophecies which foretel the greatness
of the true church ; promises, which sanction its
stability ; figures, which characterize its divinity ;
and miracles, which confirm it. There are fixed
criterions admitted, as I have remarked in the
15

114 ILLUSTRATIONS

prelude of my discourse, which point it out, and
specifically distinguish it from all the conventicles
of error. Well, it is by the light of these, that
the protestant should investigate the truth of our
religion. He should examine whether the pro
phecies, the promises, and the figures be fulfilled
in its establishment, and whether the voice of mira
cles confirm their attestations. Admitting the four
characteristics of the Nicaen creed, he should
examine whether its antiquity reach through every
age its extent diffuse itself through every region
its purity train men to holiness, and its unity
link them in the bands of harmony and concord.
If, indeed, he find all these circumstances concur ;
if they be all found realized in the catholic institute,
as they are admitted to be the indexes of truth,
the consequence is, that he at once admits he is
compelled by his own principles to admit the
divinity of catholicity. As for the mysteries of
catholicity, since he is already tutored to the belief
of mysteries, by the admission of the Christian dis
pensation, these should not even be a source of
hesitation to his reason; because mysteries, he
owns, are objects impervious to the eye of reason
the sole evidence of their certainty resulting from
the sole circumstance of the evidence of their re
velation. Therefore, when once he is assured of
the existence of this evidence, in regard of catho
licity, as this is all that his reason pretends wisely

TO SERMON I.

to ascertain, he should, to be consistent, believe
the mysteries which this evidence recommends.
Such is the method, by which the truth of our
religion should be discussed, and such only is the
method, by which it can be discussed, consistently.
I will not say what would be the result of a dis
cussion thus conducted. But I will venture to say,
that whoever seriously undertakes it, upon these
principles, will acknowledge, that if indeed the
truth of any system is to be tried, and evinced only
by its external evidences, the truth of catholicity is
just as well evinced as the truth of Christianity;
or that, if catholicity be a fable, Christianity is a
fiction.

The principles which I have laid down, as the cri
terion to ascertain the truth or falsehood of catholici
ty, may indeed be contested by the deist or the Soci-
nian, because they contest, or rather because they
reject them, in their pretended mode of investigating
the truth or falsehood of Christianity because pro
fanely bold, they attempt to tear asunder the veil
which hangs between the human eye and the
sanctuary of the Divinity. But the protestant, who
reveres mystery, certainly cannot contest them,
because they are the very principles, upon which
he believes in Christianity, and in protestantism
itself.

It is not that many protestants give themselves
the trouble to discuss, by any method, the claims

which they can tolerably appreci
ing that they accord, they rej<
dities; and the religion, of cou
cates them, as a fable. The
usually, and indeed almost sole]
criterion, by which the protes
discuss the claims, or to prove

TO SERMON I. 117

catholicity is the divine and insulted mystery of
transubstantiation. His guide and authority in
this discussion are, very wisely, his senses! Because
he conceives, as Bishop Porteus, after Seeker, re
marks, that "{if he cannot be sure of what his senses
tell him, he can be sure of nothing" he consults
his senses. His senses discover the form, taste,
and properties of bread ; therefore, he concludes,
that it is bread, and that the men, who teach it is
not, are imposters the men, who believe them,
fools! Such is the process, by which the pro-
testant judges of the claims of catholicity, and such
the authority upon which he solemnly decides
them to be absurd! I will not pretend to say,
what in this decision is most to be admired, its
folly or its profaneness which most to be con
demned, its inconsistency or its insolence. Both
are extreme. They bring down religion to a
system of human philosophy places its objects
within the same circle as those of nature confound
the principles of one science with those of another;
and subject the power and wisdom of the dispensa
tions of the Divinity, to the feeble judgment of a
feeble creature. As if God could not ordain what
reason cannot comprehend ; as if the author of na
ture could not alter nature's laws ; as ifwhich is
the case of transubstantiation he could not ordain,
that the general law of judging of the reality of
bodies, by the testimony of the senses, should,

118 ILLUSTRATIONS

when he pleases it, be suspended. This is what
the catholic contends he does. God suspends, we
say, in the mystery of trans ubstantiation, the ge
neral law of nature, and to prevent our being
deceived by the testimony of the senses, himself
informs us of the suspension. In such case, the
senses cease to be our guide. We consider the
testimony or information of the Divinity as the
equivalent, at least, of the testimony or information
of the senses : and it is upon His testimony on/?/, that
we believe the mystery.

But, at all events, the mode by which the pro-
testant judges of the truth or falsehood of catholi
city, is a violation of protestant maxims, and did
he only as he should do to act consistently apply
it to the discussion of the truth or falsehood of
protestantism, he would draw this conclusion
similar to that which I have just stated that, if
catholicity be a fable, protestantism too is a fiction
he would conclude, that both are fictions
that all revealed truth is fiction, because he absurd
ly discussed it upon erroneous principles. It is the
influence of these principles that is daily under
mining the fabric of protestantism, and erecting
upon its ruins the pandemonium of infidelity. It is
well that protestants are not all reasoners. If they
did all reason, and reasoned upon these principles,
the consequence would be, that the pale of protes
tantism would soon be converted into the school of

TO SERMON I. H9

Socinianism, at best. This indeed is what one of
the wisest of the philosophists foretels, must, ine
vitably, be the case ere long. ".# coup sitr," he
says, "ife deviendront tons Sociniens, pour Vhon-
neur de leur philosophic . ." In reality, what was,
or is, the religion of the most distinguished charac
ters, even in this nation, who have followed, or who
follow up these principles ? Evidently Socinian.
(I might, I think, without the imputation of rash
ness, say more for, as Socinianism, like protes
tantism, is but a mere mid-way region in the air,
presenting nothing firm for the foot to stand on
I might, without rashness, say, that a great por
tion of these men were deists.) However, with
out saying this, how many could I name, whom
the piety of the protestant reveres, whose faith
was but fancy, and whose religion was but the
fortunate combination of happy prejudices.
What were our Newton, Locke, Tillotson, Chil-
lingworth, Stillingfleet, Hoadley, Paley, but So-
cinians at best, although with very different shades
of credulity and inconsistency? I could too point
out several distinguished members of the estab
lished church, at the present period, whose works
are deeply tinctured with Socinianism, whose logic
is Socinian, and who, if they be not really Socin-
ians by profession, should, certainly, be such, "powr
Vhonwur de leur philosophic" In effect, who
ever, in any system of revealed religion, either be-

120 ILLUSTRATIONS

lieves, or disbelieves aught upon the principles, by
which, I have said, the protestant is induced to dis
believe the tenets of catholicity, should if only
he were consistent be either a Socinian or a deist.
The man who pretends to determine the truth or
falsehood of a mystery, by the testimony of his
senses, or the measure of his reason, should not,
it is certain, be a protestant.

Each science then, as I have laid it down, as the
basis of this note each science has its own pe
culiar principles philosophy its own theology its
own. Apply them properly, and they lead to
truth; confound them, and they generate error.
It is from this confusion of principles, that error has
pullulated with such prolific fecundity. ''Allow
me only" says Bayle, "to confound the principles
of the sciences, and to reason from a wrong princi
ple, and I can prove any thing." Yes, and even
without this confusion of principles, suppose which
is a less deviation from wisdom suppose a mere
mistake in the application of right principles, such
is the nature of truth, and the nature of logic, the
consequences thus deduced must, inevitably, be
wrong. An error in the mode of reasoning, as
well as an error in the principle or praemissae, is
always a source of error in the conclusion, just as
naturally as a wrong calculation in any part of a
sum in arithmetic must render the whole product
incorrect. But it is in theology, still more than in

TO SERMON I.

any other science, that these maxims should be
observed in theology, that science of all others
the most sacred and sublime, whose truths are
"immeasurable as the thoughts of God," and
whose mysteries are as unfathomable as the divine
abysses, neither proportioned to the measure of the
little sphere of the human understanding, nor ana
logous, in their nature, to the properties of created
things. I will just remark, that, as Plato expelled
from his school, whoever, even upon the objects
of human sciences, adopted erroneous principles
for their guide, so should Christianity reject from
its sanctuary, all those paralogistic reasoners, who
pretending to respect revelation, discuss the claims
of catholicity by the nature of 'its mysteries, and
reject its mysteries, because their reason or their
senses cannot penetrate them. I am not an enemy
to reasoning, only, in the name of philosophy, let
men reason with consistency; and in the name of
religion, let them reason by the religious principles
which they profess.

I might censure some other methods, by which
the adversaries of our religion effect to discuss its
claims, and to refute its errors. To do this, they
often select one of its detached, or only correlative
parts an article, perhaps, that is subordinate to
another, upon which it leans as its basis. The
consequence is, that considered in this point of
view, it appears dark, broken, and imperfect;
16

ILLUSTRATIONS

just as certain parts of nature or art, considered
without relation to the great ends and order to-
which they should be referred, appear incoherent
and inexplicable. The rule, then, which good
sense should adopt, when it considers our religion,
should be this, not to view it in detached parts,
but to contemplate, the great whole together: for
contemplated thus, it presents to the eye a structure
proportioned, although stupendous; and although
stupendous, simple like those harmonic edifices,
which the hand of genius has erected, exhibiting
new beauties, and proportions each time that they
are examined. Or if, indeed, curiosity will con
sider the detached parts of our religion, let it con
sider them, m the order in which they depend upon,
each other, advancing as along a chain, from link
to link, or as in a mathematical demonstration,.
from proposition to proposition, from antecedent to
consequent. Discussed even in this manner, our
religion presents the scene of the most pleasing and
striking combinations the results of order, harmo
ny, consistency, and wisdom.

There are others, who pretending to study the
claims of our religion, select, as the fittest objects
of their examination, the abuses, which cast a shade
upon its beauty. As if the very instinct of good
sense did not reprobate such folly ! If abuses were
the criterion to ascertain the merits or the demerits
of an institution, then should the best and wisest

TO SERMON I. 123

of institutions, of every order and every description
divine and human, religious and civil, be repro
bated and condemned ; and, consequently, abolish
ed and annihilated; for among them all, there is
not one in which abuses are not common. No
doubt, our religion has its abuses. But then, wis
dom should inquire are they parts of its creed,
or ingredients in its constitution? Do they form
any portion of its principles, of its tenets, or its
spirit ? Wisdom should ask all this ; and it would
find, that all the abuses of our religion are para
sitical plants introduced and planted in its pastures,
by the hands of passion, ignorance, bigotry, and
superstition growing, it is too true, under the
broad shade of catholicity, and twining, sometimes,
it is equally too true their tendrils round its
branches; but not growing there naturally, nor
constituting any part of its trunk, its branches,
or its foliage. I might add also, that these abuses,
numerous as they are, would, if candidly examined,
be found in general of a nature or import too
trifling and insignificant to arrest the notice of good
sense.

I pass over several other methods, by which the
protestant affects to discuss our doctrines. I will
only remark, that few indeed discuss them, wisely
few discuss them consistently with the dictates of
their own principles. Foolish argonauts ! affecting to
seek for truth, they seek for it upon seas and in

124 ILLUSTRATIONS

tracts which do not conduct to it; and they seek
for it, so very indolently, that did they even seek
in the right track, they would not deserve to find it.
I am no bigot, when I repeat it, whoever would
rationally and piously discuss our tenets, would
discover and acknowledge their divinity.

(D) PAGE 9.
On tlie unity of the church.

To the various texts which either I have cited,
or to which I have alluded in the body of my dis
course, I might add several others, which, while
they prove, that unity is an essential attribute of
truth, prove also, that it is an essential appendage
of the true church. In the variety of similies and
parables, which allude to the church, it is repre
sented, every where, under the figure of something,
which terminates, in unity, or which is remarkable
for the closeness of the bands which keep its parts
together. It is a "fold," under the guidance
"of one shepherd" a "family," under the au
thority "of one parent" a "chosen people,"
under the control "of one prince." It resembles
the human body, in which each member joined to
gether, feels, moves, and acts in concert. " Wher-
fore? says St. Paul to the Corinthians, "I beseech

TO SERMON I. 125

yon, that you all speak the same thing; that there
be no divisions among you; that you be perfectly
joined together, in the same mind, and in the same
judgment" (i Cor. i. 10.) "Mark tliem" he tells
the Romans, "tJiat cause divisions and offences con
trary to tlie doctrine, which you have leamned, and
avoid them" (Rom. xvi. 17.) "Walk" he exhorts
the Philippians, "by the same rule, mind the same
thing." (Phil. iii. 16.)

Neither is there in the compositions of modern
eloquence, any thing more forcible and expressive,
than a multitude of the passages in the ancient
fathers respecting the necessity of unity in the
church, and the danger and crime of being sepa
rated from it. "The chief dignity of the church,"
says St. Clement of Alexandria, "like the princi
ple of its construction, reposes upon its unity."
"Ecclesiae quoque eminentia, sicut principium
constructionis, est ex unitate, nihil habens sibi
simile, vel aequale." Strom. Lib. 7. " No
more," says Origen, "than the fornicator, or
the idolator, can he, who is broken off from the
unity of the church, possess eternal life," "Sicut
hi, qui fornicationibus, immunditiis et idolorum
cultibus maculati sunt, regnum Dei non posside-
bunt, ita et hi, qui in heresim declinaverunt."
Ep. ad. Tit. "The church," says St. Cyprian "is
one, widely extended by the diffusion of its fecun
dity; just as there are many rays of light, but one
sun; many branches of a tree, but one root;

126 ILLUSTRATIONS

many streams of water, but one fountain. The
church diffuses its rays over all the universe, yet
is its light one, and its unity indivisible." Eccle-
sia una est, quae in multitudinem latius incremento
foecunditatis extenditur; quomodo solis multi radii,
sed umim lumen; et rami arboris multi, sed robur
unum, tenaci radice fundatum; et cum de fonte
uno rivi plurimi defluunt, numerositas licet diffusa
videatur exundantis copiae largitate, unitas tamen
servatur in origine. Avelle radium solis a corpore,
divisionem lucis unitas non capit. Ab arbore
frange ramum, fractus germinare non poterit. A
fonte prascide rivum, prascisus arescet. Sic eccle-
sia, Domini luce, per orbem totum radios suos
porrigit. Unum tamen lumen est, quod ubique
<Hffunditur; nee unitas corporis separatur. Lib.
de unit. Eccl. "The catholic church alone,"
says Lactantius, "retains the true worship; she
alone is the source of truth, and the residence of
faith. She alone is the temple of God, into which
whoever enters not, or which whoever quits, forfeits
the hope of life, and the prospect of salvation."
Sola, igitur, catholica ecclesia est, quad verum
cultum retinet. Hie est fons veritatis; hoc est
domicilium fidei; hoc templum Dei, quo, si quis
non intraverit, vel a quo, si quis exiverit, a spe
vitae et salutis aeternae alienus est. Inst. Lib. iiL
c. 30. See also St. Chrysostom, Horn. 2ad, in
Ep. ad Ephes. and passim. St Austin, de Unit,

TO SERMON I. 127

Eccl. St. Optatus, Mil. Lib. Imo. St. Cyril of
Jerusalem, Cent. 15. Or rather, consult any of
those venerable writers, who make mention of the
church. Among them there is not one not a
solitary individual who making mention of it,
does not teach, that it is essentially one, one in
the unity of its faith, and one in the unity of its
external communion. This circumstance was so
universally admitted, in the fourth century, that
in the year 395, under the emperors Arcadius and
Honorius, a general law was passed, declaring all
those heretics, who did not profess the catholic
religion. "Hereticorwn vocabulo continentur, et
latis adversus eos sanctionibus debent succwnbere^
qui vel levi argumento, a jiidicio catJwlicce religionis.
et tramite detecti fuerint deviare."

It would indeed, such is the evidence of the
necessity of the unity of the church it would be
just as easy to produce quotations, in acknowledg
ment of this necessity, from protestant, as it is
from catholic writers. The first apostles of the
reformation Luther, Melancthon, Beza, &c. all
admitted it; and the most enlightened portion of
the clergy, that have, at any period, since the
introduction of protestantism, adorned this nation
the Montagues, Pearsons, Thorndykes, Taylors
have borne eloquent testimony of its certainty.
In reality, the instinct of reason suggests it. Truth
is one, therefore the church is one. The reason why

128 ILLUSTRATIONS

each one believes, that his own church is the
"right one," is because he believes, that his
own church is the only true one. It were folly to
imagine, that any man can be so absurd as to
suppose, that his own church is the "right one,"
and that the church, which differs from it, can be
"a right," or a true one also. That were sup
posing, that truth and falsehood were both right,
or both true. But the case is, whoever believes in
any church, necessarily believes, -if only he reason
at all upon the subject that all the churches,
which dissent from that church, are false churches
spurious establishments erected by the bands of
passion. And hence, exclusive doctrines are the
dictate of common sense, and the received opinion
of nearly every sect that pretends to venerate
Christianity.

(E) PAGE 12.

On the supremacy of St Peter.

If there be any passages in the holy scriptures,
which it would seem almost impossible for igno
rance to misunderstand, or for simplicity to mistake
any passages, which prejudice could not mis
interpret, nor sophistry distort; if there be any

TO SERMON I. 129

passages, which to the protestant, explaining them
by the protestant rule, should appear clear, easy,
and perspicuous, which need neither glossary nor
annotation to my ideas, they are those, which
establish the super-eminence of St. Peter over the
rest of his fellow apostles. Considering the context
of these passages, the peculiarity of language,
which expresses them, and the peculiarity of cir
cumstances which they relate, their meaning to
my feelings of common sense (and it is to such only
that I wish to appeal in this note) their meaning ap
pears so obvious, that I wonder how even prejudice
or passion can contrive to misconceive them. In
deed, blind as are prejudice and passion, I do
believe, that if it were not also their interest to
misconceive them, their misconception would be
rare.

Appealing then, to the mere context and lan
guage of these passages, without any other com
mentary, but what instantly presents itself to the
understanding, behold the texts to which I mean
to allude. I might appeal to several; but I will
select only two the promise which Christ made
to Peter of the supremacy, and the completion of
the promise the former contained in the six
teenth chapter of St. Matthew; the latter, in the
twenty-first of St. John.

In the sixteenth chapter of St. Matthew, from
the 13th to the 20th verse, it is related, that Jesus
17

130 ILLUSTRATIONS

having interrogated his disciples respecting their
faith in his person, Peter instantly answered by a
strong attestation, that he believed him to be the
Messias, and the Son of God; "thou art Christ"
he said, "the sonofthe living God" Jesus praising
the fervor of his faith, and designing, doubtlessly,
to reward it, replied, "Blessed art thou, Simon

Sar-Jona and I say to thee, that thou art

Peter (that is a rock) and upon this rock I will build
my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail
against it. Jlnd I will give to thee the keys of tlie
kingdom of heaven, and whatsoever tJiou shall bind
upon earth, shall be bound, also, in Jieaven; and
whatsoever tJiou shall loose on earth, shall be loosed,
also, in heaven"

Sophistry, and even learning apart,- it is here
evident, in the first place, that the words of Jesus
are, immediately, addressed to Peter. "I say," to
thee, "thou art Peter; whatsoever tJwu shalt bind,
&c." All this is personal; not another apostle is
named, not another alluded to. To remove even
the suspicion, which any might conceive, that what
he said was not personal, Jesus calls the individual,
to whom he speaks, by his name; Simon, he says.
He even does more; for, as there was another
Simon in the company Simon the brother of
Thaddseus in order, evidently, to obviate the
difficulty, which the ingenuity of prejudice, or the
subtility of error might possibly cull from this cir-

TO SERMON I. 131

cumstance, he distinguishes the Simon to whom
he addresses himself, from the Simon who is the
brother of Thaddceus; he names him Simon sen
of Jonas. Next, the motive of this nice attention
to distinguish Peter from the rest of his associates
is as obvious as the distinction itself. Peter had
distinguished himself from them, by the peculiar
readiness of his faith, and the energy with which
he professed it. The motive of Jesus was to reward
them, and to render more conspicuous and incon-
testible, the peculiar dignity which he was pro
ceeding to confer upon him. But it is in con
ferring this dignity, and in pointing out the nature
of it as it was in pointing out the person, on
whom he designed to bestow it that the conduct
of Jesus is again manifest and striking. The name
of Peter, until this occasion, had been Simon. Je
sus changed this, as I remarked, into Peter,
which signifies a rocfc, adding, immediately, as a
reason, "because upon this rock I will build my
church." Now, whence a new name, if Simon
were not intended to have been, personally, pointed
out? And whence such a name, if he were not
designed to be, personally, distinguished from his
brethren? Jesus says, too, upon this rock. And
why should he say this rocfe, and not merely a rock,
if Peter were not destined to be a foundation
distinct, in some respect or other, from the rest of
his fellow labourers? Certainly, just as the strong

ILLUSTRATIONS

emblem- a rock is calculated to express the
stability of the church, so the demonstrative
"f/iis" is, with equal accuracy, formed to point
out either the individual or the spot, upon which
the sacred fabric is destined to repose. Thus,
having distinctly indicated the person of Peter,
praised his faith, and constituted him the myste
rious basis of his church, he proceeds, without
any interruption of his discourse still addressing
himself to Peter to confer upon him the attri
butes of magistracy and authority, of which the
keys are considered the usual symbols, and the
power of binding and losing the usual appendages.
When, by the protestant rule of interpretation,
the literal meaning or acceptation of any text is
clear, or not combated by any other text, that is
clearer, or equally clear, with itself in such case,
the rule declares that the literal meaning or ac-

o

ceptation should be adopted. Now, setting aside
the artifices of conventions, and the prejudices of
education supposing any indvidual, not yet in
fluenced by the passions and interests of party,
were to read the promises made to Peter, and to
interpret them by their obvious import, that is,
by the above rule of interpretation what is the
meaning which his reason would naturally affix
to them ? Certainly, in the first place, that they
allude to Peter, because they are addressed to
Peter; secondly, that they insure something to

TO SERMON I. 133

Peter, which they do not insure to the rest of the
apostles, because Peter alone is named no other
being even alluded to. Else, he must suppose,
that Christ speaks to Peter, and does not mean
Peter; and that when he promises something,
individually, to Peter, by a mental reservation, he
intends to bestow it upon all ! Is not such sup
position absurd ? Yes ; it is supposing, that Jesus
spoke preposterously it is taking from language
its ordinary signification, and is the grossest viola
tion of the rule which I have just laid down. Hence,
among the fathers and ancient writers of the
church, there is not one, who giving the literal
and proper interpretation of the passage, does not
explain it as referring to Peter only, and to his
supremacy. See Origen, Horn. 5, in Exod. St.
Cyprian, de Discipline, et Hab. Yirg. Ep. 55, 70,
71, fyc. St. Athanasius, in Ep. ad Fel. St. Jerom,
passim.-- -St. Gregory Naz. de Moderatione Ser-
vanda in disp. St. Chrysostom, Horn. 55, in Mat.
&c.~ St. Cyril Alex. L. 2, in Joan. &c. Theo-
philactus, in cap. 2 Luca3. St. Ambrose, L. 6
Luc.-~ -St. Austin, serm. 201, 203, &c. But why
enumerate a long catalogue of names? I have
observed, that the writers of every remote period
are united in the same interpretation. The fact
isand whoever will peruse the passage with can
dor and discernment, will own it the interpreta
tion which they have followed, and which I have

134 ILLUSTRATIONS

given, is alone plain, easy, natural, and obvious;
every other is confused, forced, distorted, and
unnatural.

But, to come to the fulfilment of the promise.
We read, in the twenty-first chapter of St. John,
that before his ascension, Jesus appeared to his
disciples, at the lake of Tiberias: he conversed
with them, was present at their repast, and, after
they had completed it, addressed himself in this
very singular manner, to St. Peter. " Simon,
Son of John, dost thou love me more than these? Sir
mon answered, yea, Lord, thou knowest that 1 love
thee and Jesus said, Feed my Lambs"

" Again. Jesus said to him, Simon son of John

O * / */

dost thou love me? Simon answered, Yea, Lord,
thou knoivest that I love thee. Jesus again repeated,
Feed my lambs."

A third time, Jesus asked him. Simon, son of
John, dost thou love me? Here, the apostle was
afflicted, apprehensive, probably, either that Jesus
doubted of his sincerity, or trembling, perhaps,
at the recollection of his former presumption,
which had been the prelude to his fall, he modestly
replied, "Lord, tlwu knowest all things, thou
knowest that 1 love tliee." Here Jesus added,
" Feed my slicep."

The above passage is, certainly, one of those
whose every feature is remarkable, and intended,
evidently, to convey the impression of some effect

TO SERMON I. 135

more striking even than the generality of our Sa
viour's conversations with his apostles. Behold,
what common sense suggests, as its most apposite
signification. It is evident, in the first place, as it
was on the occasion of the promise in St. Matthew,
that Jesus here again, immediately, and personally
points out the individual, to whom he addresses
his discourse. Simon, he says; and to prevent
the possibility of conceiving, that he might, per
haps, mean Simon the brother of Thaddaeus, he
adds, Simon son of John. It is, consequently,
plain, that he does not here intend to address
himself to all his apostles. This, also, is plain
from Peter's answers ; for, just as the questions
were put to Peter only, so Peter only answers
them in his own name. Jesus, then, asks Peter,
whether he loved him- or, rather, not whether
he loved him, but whether he loved him more
than the rest of the apostles who were present :
" Lovest thou me more than these?" Now, whence
so singular an interrogation whence this demand
of a love superior to that of the other apostles
unless that the nature of the office or dignity
which he was going to confer upon him, was of
a nature also superior to theirs? Ingenuity can
conceive no other cause for such difference of love,
but such difference of office, or such super-eminence
of dignity. And then too, he three times puts
to him the question, if he love him? Why so

136 ILLUSTRATIONS

singular a question for Jesus already knew, as
Peter remarks, the sincerity of his love? And
above all, why so singularly repeated for nothing
similar occurs, in the whole series of the sacred
text? Without doubt, as the whole conduct of
Jesus is here uncommon, it could not be designed
to express merely the common commission to teach
and reform the world. But, observe now the answers
of Jesus. In reply to the two first assurances of
Peter, that he loved him, he said, on each occa
sion, "Feed my lambs." After the third assurance,
he added, " Feed my sheep" In the holy scrip
tures, the faithful are, frequently, designated
under the figure and appellation of a flock. Jesus
employs this figure, on this occasion; but he di
vides the flock into two distinct and separate parts
into lambs, by which he means the ordinary
faithful and sheep, by which he means the pastors
of the faithful ; for just as the lamb is nourished
by the sheep, or its dam, so are the faithful fed
by their pastors with the word of God. Now,
Jesus confers upon Peter the care and superinten-
dance over both these parts, feed my lambs ; feed
my sheep. That there is really question in the
words ^feed my lambs" of care or superin-
tendance over the faithful, this is a circumstance
not even contested by our protestant adversaries.
They all allow, that they are synonymous to the
order govern my faithful ; watch over the church.

TO SERMON I. 137

Therefore, admitting that there is any meaning in
the distinction which Jesus makes between the two
portions of his fold, it evidently follows, that, as by
the words feed my lambs, he gives Peter a com
mission to govern the faithful, by the terms feed
my sheep, he gives him a jurisdiction over the
pastors of the faithful. Whoever rejects this dis
tinction, makes Jesus speak unintelligibly; and
whoever rejects this interpretation of the distinction,
takes away from analogy its obvious bearings, and
from words their natural import. Christ compares
his church to a flock, he divides the flock into
two parts, and he gives Peter the superintendance
over the whole, feed my lambs, feed my sheep. The
consequence is, that since he gave Peter a super
intendance over his whole flock, he confers upon
him a jurisdiction distinct from that of the rest of
the apostles a jurisdiction more enlarged than
theirs a jurisdiction reaching- over the whole body
of the church, over the taught and the teachers,
over the governed and the governors.

When I spoke of the promise which is made to
Peter, in St. Matthew, I remarked, that the in
terpretation which I then gave, is that of all the
great Christian writers of every age, till the sera of
the reformation ; I here repeat the same remark :
in regard of the texts, which I have cited from
St John. These writers unanimously refer them
to Peter, and expound them, as the proof of his
18

138 ILLUSTRATIONS

supremacy. They all teach to use the words
of St. Ambrose that " Christ established Peter his
vicar, upon earth. He prefemed him alone, among
all, because among all, he alone professed his love"
In cap. ult. Luc, But let learning consult any of
the ancient fathers : Chrysostom, in Evang. Joan.
Horn. 87 Epiphanius, in Anac. Theophilactus,
in cap. ult. Joan. Origen, in cap. 6, Ep. ad Rom.
St. Gregory, Lib. 5, Ep. ad Marit. &c. &c. &c.
The whole Greek church, till the period of its
schism, always acknowledged and acted upon these
principles ; and the whole Latin church, at every
period, down to the present day, has ever consi
dered them as the strong basis of its unity, order,
and subordination. Indeed, I could almost ven
ture to appeal to the testimony of the common
prayer-book, to sanction the above interpretation
of Peter's supremacy. In the collect, which is
read on the festival of the saint it is said, Al
mighty God, who, by thy son Jesus Christ, didst
give to thy apostle St. Peter many excellent gifts,
and commandest him, earnestly, to feed thy flock,
make we beseech thee, &c. In this prayer, the
power of Peter is made to rest upon the words,
feed my lambs, feed my sheep ; " as being particu
larly commissioned, the learned protestant author
of the Essay upon Catholic Communion observes,
to feed the whole flock of Christ."

I shall omit the various texts and passages of the

TO SERMON I. 139

holy scriptures, which either confirm these inter
pretations, or form strong presumptions of their
evidence. But, whoever, considering the conduct
and peculiar features of the apostles, will compare
them attentively together, will find, that there are
circumstances in the conduct of Peter, and traits
in his features, which distinguish him, very for
cibly, from the rest of his fellow labourers. He
is the first who is charged by his divine master to
confirm the brethren in the faith the first, who
received the revelation to admit the Gentiles into
the church the first, who preaches the gospel to
them the first, who spoke in the assembly of dis
ciples the first, who pronounces the decision re
specting the legal observances the first, in all the
functions of the apostolic college the first named,
in all the enumerations which the scripture makes
of the apostles, although he is neither the first
in age among them, nor the first called to the
apostolic functions. Surely, some peculiar charac
teristic must have been the cause of all these pe
culiar distinctions. And, what cause so obviously
plain, as that to which I have attributed them?
At all events, this I am convinced of -amid all
the variety of passages, upon which error, or pre
judice, or fanaticism have laid the foundations of
heresy, there is not one which admits so clear, so
consistent, so satisfactory an interpretation, as that
which I have given of the texts of SS. John and

140 ILLUSTRATIONS

Matthew. If there were one, with what an air
of triumph, and with what real triumph, would
the eloquence and learning of its defenders press
it upon the observation and understandings of their
adversaries? But the misfortune is, while it is
the interest of some to shut their eyes to the blaze
of truth, it is natural also for passion and prejudice
to turn aside from its contemplation. And it is>
perhaps, as natural to do it, upon the subject
of St. Peter's dignity, as almost upon any other
controverted question. For, if Peter were, really,
the head of the apostles if he were, really, in
vested with a peculiar office, two consequences
are obvious first, that the headship and office were
destined to be permanent secondly, that their per-
manancy has continued in the succession of the Ro
man Pontiffs. The proof of Peter's supremacy is
the proof of the supremacy of Pius the seventh.

(F) PAGE 13.

The opinions of MelanctJwn, Gmtius, aad Leibnitz
on the necessity of authority, and above all, the
necessity of the papal authority.

MELANCTHON, in one of the articles, which he
presents to Francis the first, says, "Primum igitur,
hoc omnes profitemur, politiam ecclesiasticam

TO SERMON I. 141

rem esse sanctam et utilem ; ut sint utique aliqui
episcopi, qui prassint pluribus ecclesiarum minis-
tris; item, ut Romanus Pontifex prassit omnibus
episcopis. Opus est enim in ecclesia gubernatori-
bus, qui vocatos ad ministeria ecclesiastica explo-

rent et ordinent et inspiciant doctrinam

eacerdotum; et si nulli essent episcopi, tamen
creari tales oporteret." Art. 1. apud D'Argen-
tri Coll. Jud. part 2, 1. 1. Hence, at the diet of
Smalkald, he offered to acknowledge the supre
macy of the Pope over the protestant churches,
provided he (the Pope) would not oppose the
preaching of the new gospel. Luther, it is true,
reproached his inconsistency of owning the Pope
to be his superior, whom he had publicly derided,
and preached up as Antichrist.

The opinion of Grotius respecting the necessity
of authority to keep together the bands of unity,
if not more forcibly, is more elegantly expressed,
than that of Melancthon. "Restitutionem Chris-
tianorum in unum idemque corpus," says the learn
ed and candid writer, "semper optatum a Gro-
tio, sciunt, qui eum norunt. Postea, vidit id plane
fieri nequire, quia praeterquam quod Calvinista-
rum ingenia ferine omnium ab omni pace sunt
alienissima, protestantes, nullo inter se communi
ecclesiastico regimine, sociantur. Q,ua3 causaa-
sunt, cur factae partes in unum protestantium cor
pus eolligi nequeant; imo, et cur partes aliaa

142 ILLUSTRATIONS

atque aliae sint exsurrecturas. Quare, nunc,
plane ita sentit Grotius, et multi cum ipso, non posse
protestantes inter se conjungi, nisi simul jungantur
cum iis, qui sedi Romance cohasreant. Sine qua,
nihil sperari potest in ecclesia commune regimen.
Ideo optat, ut ea divulsio, quas evenit, et causae
divulsionis tollantur. Inter eas causas, non est
primatus Episcopi Romani secundum canones, fa-
tente Melanchthone, qui eum primatum etiam
necessarium putat ad retinendam unitatem. Neque
enim hoc est ecclesiam subjicere pontificis libidini,
sed reponere ordinem sapienter institutum." Grot.
Riv. apol. Disc. Tom. 4. See also, Consult. Cas-
sandri apud Grot. Tom. 4. In animad. Rivet
Tom. 4, &c. &c.

Similar to the above opinions of Melancthon and
Grotius, was that also of another very distinguished
character, in the requblic of letters, Leibnitz a pro-
testant and a candid man. He expresses himself
nearly in the same terms as Grotius ; considers the
reunion with the mother church, as the only source
of unity, and as the only means of giving back
tranquility to society ; and he piously offers up the
same vows for that happy end. See his works,
passim.

TO SERMON I. 143

(G) PAGE 14.

On the spiritual supremacy of princes.

WHILST interest is one of the great springs of
action, it is no wonder that there should be always
found men to defend the crimes of princes, or to
support the errors of religious institutions. Let
what may be the magnitude of the former, you
trace, at every period of history, a legion of para-
fitical protectors, who come forward to uphold
them ; and whatever be the absurdities of the latter,
you find always a host of advocates rise up to
vindicate them. It is by this principle only, that
we can account for the circumstances which took
place during the reign of the eighth Henry. He
was a tyrant covered with crimes, arrogating to
himself a new form of authority, and upon the
ruins of an edifice, which had subsisted in the
island eight hundred years, raising a new fabric y
planned and constructed by the dictates of his own;
caprice. His crimes found supporters, though all
abhorred them; his new constitution, defenders,,
though the whole nation considered it as an im
pious act of tyranny.

In the acknowledgment, however, which is
made in this country, that a spiritual authority is

144 ILLUSTRATIONS

necessary in the church, as a civil one is essential
in the state, there is something for wisdom to ap
plaud. It is admitting the same principle, which
forms the basis of catholic union. It is owning,
the palpable truth, that to preserve the unity of
faith, the regularity of subordination and the sanc
tity of discipline the stays of power and the in
fluences of jurisdiction are required. Of course,
the men, who first defended the spiritual usurpa
tions of Henry, or those, who have since defended
the supremacy which reposes upon his usurpations,
have this to say in their own vindication, that
they have defended a right principle, and supported
a maxim which religion approves and sanctions.
Their error is only that they apply them ill. They
apply them, not where religion bids, but where
policy commands not where reason itself points
out, but where the wisdom of self-interest directs.
They may, too, have this slender claim to praise,
that, supposing which is the fact that they have
applied the maxim ill, they have applied it, where
after its right application, it is perhaps, tlw least
ill, applied; and where, though absurdly defended,
it is, least absurdly, defended.

After I have paid these trifling tributes of praise
to the good sense of this nation, I know nothing,
that in its conduct, or opinion, respecting the
spiritual supremacy, is deserving of admiration or
applause. The history of the introduction of our

TO SERMON I. 145

supremacy, is not, certainly, any strong recom
mendation or attestation of its divinity. The cause
and occasion of it are known to whoever is but
slenderly acquainted with our history. They were
lust inflamed to fury, and the fury of lust deter
mined upon gratification ; they were anger stimu
lated to resentment, and resentment assisted by all
the aids of tyranny, bent upon revenge. " Violent
ly hurried away" says Heylin, " by some private
affections, and finding that the Pope appeared the
greatest obstacle to his desires, lie extinguished his
authority in the realm" That, indeed, it was not
the dictate of principle, or the suggestion even of
human policy, that induced him to arrogate to
himself the spiritual supremacy, is plain from this
circumstance, that before he extinguished the au
thority of the Pope, he employed every expedient,
which art, or the influences of power and riches,
could supply, in order to obtain a canonical sepa
ration from his consort. At the bottom, Hemy
possessed a strong veneration for his religion. But
as his passions were stronger than his virtue, he
sacrificed, in the conflict between them, his vene
ration for his religion to the pleasure of their indul
gence. The Pope, as Heylin observes, was the
chief obstacle to this indulgence, and therefore
boldly spurning the odious hindrance, he rejected
his authority ; and indignant also, at the method
with which his holiness had treated him, he, with
19

146 ILLUSTRATIONS

still greater boldness, arrogated the spiritual au
thority, and established himself the supreme head
of the church of England, declaring, that " all
jurisdiction, as well spiritual, as civil, proceeds from
the royal power, as from its first source"

Tyrants, or princes, I have remarked, find al
ways slaves and flatterers, because they possess the
means of rewarding submission. Accordingly, the
parliament soon sanctioned the unholy usurpation.
By an act passed in the year 1534, they conferred
upon Henry, and transferred to his successors-
no matter whether these were men, women, or
children the title, power, and prerogatives of the
supreme head of the English church. The act runs
thus, " Jfiheit the king is supreme head of the church
ofEngland,and has been so recognized by the clergy
of this realm, in their convocation." (The members
of the clergy here alluded to were a few creatures
awed, some of them by fear, and others bought
over to sanction the dirty business.) " Yet, for more
cotroboration thereof, as also for extirpating errors,
heresies, and abuses of the same, be it enacted, that
the king, his heirs and successors, kings of England,
be accepted and reputed supreme heads, on earth, of
the church of England, and Jutve and enjoy united
and annexed to the imperial crown of this realm, as
well the title and style thereof, as all honours, digni
ties, pre-eminences, jurisdictions, privileges, autho
rities, immunities, profits,and commodities to the said

TO SERMON I. 147

dignity of supreme head of tJie same church belong
ing or appertaining. Jlnd that our said Lord, his
heirs and successors, kings of this realm, shall have
full power and authority, from time to time, to visit
and repress, redress, reform, order, correct, restrain,
and amend all such errors, heresies, abuses, offences,
contempts, and enormities whatsoever tJiey be, which,
by any manner of spiritual autJiority, or jurisdiction
ought, or may lawfully be refonned, repressed, order
ed, redressed, corrected, restrained, or amended,
most to the pleasure of Jllmighty God, the increase
of virtue in Christfs religion, and the conservation-
of peace, unity, and tranquilly of the realm" Such
is the history of the origin of the supremacy of our
monarch such the history of the establishment of
that jurisdiction which constitutes the platform,
upon which the fabric of protestantism reposes in
this nation.

I know, indeed, that it is denied, that the above
act constitutes, at the present period, the platform
of the establishment. Such is, evidently, its extra
vagance, it required all the boldness of such a cha
racter as w r as Henry's, to propose it, and all the ob
sequiousness of such a parliament, as was his, to
sanction it, as a law. Hence, has the modesty of
several succeeding princes, or the wisdom of several
succeeding parliaments not willing that the reli
gion of the state should rest upon an act of despot
ism thought proper to substitute other acts in its

148 ILLUSTRATIONS

room : and the supremacy, it is now said, is bottom
ed upon something much wiser, and more tempe
rate, than the preceding statutes, I commend the
modesty, which blushes at the origin of the protes-
&nt supremacy : there is, certainly, much for mo*
desty to be ashamed o However, after all, let
only candor consider seriously the acts, which the
supposed wisdom or temperance of succeeding
princes or parliaments have substituted in the room
of Henry's statutes, and, I contend, it will still dis
cover that the despotism of Henry and the acts,
which I have cited, are still the real, though not
the nominal platform of the establishment. It will
discover, that all the subsequent acts or statutes of
our parliaments, which either confer, sanction, or
regulate the supremacy, are still only trifling modi
fications of the acts and statutes of Henry modifi
cations of its stile, not of its principles; of its phrases,
not of its substance.

Notwithstanding every modification, it is still
true, that whoever is seated upon the throne of
this empire be it man, woman, or child unbe
liever or atheist the most vicious or the most stu
pid of mankind is, by its laws, the supreme head
of its church, his authority is the sole source of
ecclesiastical jurisdiction, and his sanction the sole
principle of canonical institution. Notwithstanding
every modification, it is still true, that the word only
of the prince gives validity to the exercise of every

TO SERMON I. 149

species of spiritual function, as his prohibition ren
ders them invalid true, that neither the admin
istration of the sacraments, neither the office of
preaching, neither the use of censures, neither any
code of faith, nor any form of liturgy are valid
without the approbation and sanction of his supre
macy. It is this supremacy precisely, which gives
effect or nullity to every act of the sacred ministry.
Hence, is his spiritual power far superior to that of
his bishops, or archbishops; because it is he, who
confers upon these the power of performing their
spiritual functions ; he is the arbiter over their spi
ritual functions ; and he gives validity to their spiri
tual functions. Theirs is the subordinate, his the
supreme authority theirs is the stream, his the
fountain. " It appears" says Neal, " that all the
jurisdiction and autliority claimed by tJw pope, as
head of the church, is transferred and annexed to
the imperial crown of these realms" "And wJien
any part of tJte church" adds Hooker, " is infected
with errors, schism, heresies, fyc. whatever spiritual
powers the kgates had from tJie see of Rome, as
much, in every degree, have our laws fully granted
to the king, forever" (Eccl. Pol.)

Accordingly, if we examine, how far our princes
have acted up to their supremacy, we find, that
many of them have carried the exercise of their sa
cred functions, through all their bearings, to their
utmost boundaries. Henry appointed a certain

150 ILLUSTRATIONS

number of commissioners to draw up, in his name,
an explanation of the creed, the sacraments and the
ten commandments. He also established several
articles of faith, which he made it heresy to disbe
lieve, and death to call in question. The child Ed
ward did as much. Ascending the throne, in 1547,
he obliged all bishops to take out from him new
commissions to perform their spiritual functions.
He introduced the use of communion under both
species ; declared the practice of confession volun
tary ; changed the liturgy and the public offices of
the church ; sanctioned the marriage of the clergy ;
published a new confession of faith, which by a
royal mandate of his supremacy, rendered it now
heresy to believe, what, by a similar royal man
date, it was, a few years before, heresy to disbelieve.
Under the ivoman Elizabeth, we trace singular
as it ought to appear to Christian piety enlightened
by Christian wisdom we trace the same spiritual
supremacy claimed, sanctioned and enforced and
enforced, to nearly the same extent, as it was by
the preceding princes. In 1559, a law was passed
proclaiming her right to reform all errors and abuses
in the church, and declaring, that no one was ca
pacitated to perform any public function, or to ex
ercise any public office, who refused to swear, that
he acknowledged her the supreme head of the state,
in spirituals, as well as temporals. Acting up to
this supreme headship in spirituals, she reformed the

TO SERMON I. 151

religion of Edward, as he had reformed that of
Henry ; she formed a new code of faith, changed
the liturgy, ordained new ceremonies, deposed and
created bishops; issued communications, &c. &c.
Neither have Elizabeth and her two protestant pre
decessors, alone, performed these holy fimctions,
their successors also, at different periods, have,
though with considerable shades of difference, imi
tated their example, and exerted their spiritual pre
rogatives. Indeed, the case is extremely plain.
By the laws and religious maxims of this country,
the prince is just as much, in the eyes of the Eng-
lish-protestant the protestant pope, as the bishop
of Rome is, in the eyes of the catholic, the catholic
pope. Both in the eyes of each, are in each esta
blishment, the supreme and spiritual heads, the
sources of jurisdiction, the centres of unity, the com
mon spiritual fathers of the faithful, and of the pas
tors of the faithful.

It is not the object of this note to attempt to point
out the error of imagining, that temporal princes
are also the spiritual rulers of the church. It was
reserved to the epoch of the reformation, and al
most solely to the English reformers, to suggest and
establish so strange a system. There is, in reality,
nothing in the nature of religion to give it an air of
probability nothing in antiquity to sanction it
nothing even in more modern precedent to render
it decent. In this, the whole body of foreign re-

ILLUSTRATIONS

formers, but most pointedly the presbyterian sects,
agree with the Roman catholic. "Church mat
ters" the learned presbyterian Cartwright remarks,
"ought to be handled by church officers. The prin
cipal direction of them is by God's ordinance, com
mitted to the ministers of the church and to the eccle
siastical governors. As these meddle not with
making civil laws, so the civil magistrate ought
not to ordain ceremonies, or determine contro
versies in the church, as long as they do not
trench upon his temporal authority." (Admo
nition to parl.) Doubtless, as the nature, the end
and object of civil power are different from
those of spiritual power, and as their duties, offices,
and functions are also distinct, so should there be a
difference and distinction in their respective minis
ters. It is the prince's all the ancient writers
upon the subject of these two powers have observed
to rule the state, the pontiff's to rule the church;
the prince's to wield the sword, the pontiff's to hold
the crozier; the prince's to watch over the duties
of the citizen, the pontiff's to direct the faith and
Conscience of the Christian. "God" said Osius
to Constance, "gave the empire and the sceptre to

you, but the church and the altar to the priest
hood."

But it is a circumstance, which merits the atten
tion of curiosity to remark, how appositely the
assumption of the spiritual supremacy served the

TO SERMON I. 153

purpose for which it was professed to have been,
adopted. The observation, too, of this circum-.
stance, while it may amuse curiosity, will present al
so a forcible presumption, if not a forcible proof,
that the assumption of the supremacy by our prin
ces was not the dictate of divine institution, nor
even the result, of political wisdom. The purpose
for which the spiritual supremacy of our princes
was professed to have been assumed and sanctioned
was "to support the unity of faith and the integrity
of Christian discipline." This is the motive which
is cited in the acts, and preambles of the acts, which
confer the important prerogative. Well! and ob
serve how this is realized. At the period shortly
preceding the arrogation of the supremacy by Hen
ry, the whole nation each reader knows it was
united in the profession of the same faith, in the ob
servance of the same practices, and in obedience to
the same authority. There was neither division
nor schism, nor heresy, within its precincts. Be
hold, Henry assumes the supremacy, and straight, a
schism is the result. The schism generates heresy;
and in the trifling interval of a few years, a nation,
which had always been distinguished for the steadi
ness of its faith, as it is remarkable for the gene
ral steadiness of its good sense, became the sport
of error, the play-thing of illusion, and the dupe
of every dogmatising fanatic, whom fancy, or

folly, or interest, or ignorance, prompted to be-
20

154 ILLUSTRATIONS

come apostles. Each bigot became a preacher,
or a prophet. New establishments rose daily upon
the ruins of the ancient altars ; and it happened,
not unfrequently, that a multitude of distinct fami
lies composed a multitude of distinct religions.
To stay this prolific growth of error, which often
disturbed the peace of the nation, and threatened,
sometimes, the security of the throne, several codes
of faith were published, dictated by the supreme
head of the new church, sanctioned by all the
authority of his spiritual influences, and by royal
mandates pressed forcibly upon the piety, or the
credulity of the people. It mattered not. The
people not yet tutored to believe, or not yet suffi
ciently enlightened to conceive, that the prince
is the arbiter of the nation's faith, and that the
mandates of his will are the dictate of the divine
authority, considered them as the undue exertions
of his prerogative. Not the ardor or eloquence
of a considerable portion of the clergy, who were
interested in their defence, could induce them to
believe them nor, indeed, could even interest,
in many instances, induce many, in the clergy
themselves, to respect them. Spite of royal man
dates, of royal canons, and royal censures, error
in every varied, versatile, and frightful form, con
tinued to erect new temples, and the nation pre
sented to the astonished world, a scene of folly,
bigotry, and superstition, striking and preposterous

TO SERMON I. 155

as any that curiosity can trace in the lengthened
annals of fanaticism. Its inconstancy became pro
verbial. It was compared, by other countries, to
the never ceasing motion and fluctuation of the
waves that wash our shores. Such are the effects
which resulted from the arrogation of a spiritual
supremacy by our temporal potentates such the
consequences of pretending to support unity of
belief, by means which revelation has not sanction
ed. The truth is, there is but one real band of
unity. Break that asunder, and disunity will pre
vail. There is but one established principle of
subordination. Reject that, and disorder will
wanton in licentiousness. Not the mariner without
a helm, a compass, or an anchor, is more com
pletely the sport of the waves and tempests, than
the mind without this principle. Without this
principle, each one, like Palinurus, might call out

Nunc me pontus habet, jactantque in littore venti.

156 ILLUSTRATIONS

(H) PAGE 17.

O/i the differences of opinion and discipline in the
catholic church.

>
THE circumstances and objects, which the pro-

testant often brings forward, as proofs of disunity
in the catholic church, are the differences of opin
ion which prevail among its theologians, and the
varieties of discipline, which in various nations,
subsist among its members. These objections may
be found incessantly repeated by almost every in
trepid writer, who either combats the divinity of
popery, or attempts to prove the divinity of pro
testantism.

Among our theologians, it is said, and in our
schools, there prevails a great difference and op-*
position of opinion. True, we allow it But
then, what are the questions and objects, about
which this difference and opposition reign? Why,
about questions and objects that are, sometimes,
of very little importance; sometimes, of no im
portance whatever; sometimes, even ludicrously
unimportant. They are about questions, which
do not regard the basis of faith, and which the voice

TO SERMON I. 157

and authority of the church have left entirely un
decided. They are about questions, which do not
form any articles of faith, and about which, of
course, the church allows perfect liberty of opin
ion to her members allows them to believe or
disbelieve them, to discuss and interpret them pre
cisely as they please. But in this case, there is ob
viously no violation of unity, because there is no
violation of faith; there is no violation of union,
because there is no violation of authority. There
is even no difference of faith, because the objects,
about which the differences subsist, are not objects
of faith. It is thus in civil governments: there
exist, respecting various points of law, policy, and
jurisprudence, the widest differences of opinion.
And yet, these differences are neither considered
as divisions of the unity of the government, nor
as breaches of subordination. The reason is, either
they are deemed too unimportant to merit the
interference of the government; or, if important,
its wisdom not having determined them as the
maxims or basis of its stability, permits its subjects
to think, speak, or write respecting them, as they
please. In governments, what constitutes the
breach of civil unity is rebellion. In the church,
what constitutes the breach of religious unity is the
same the refusal of submission to her authority,
when she ordains it.

158 ILLUSTRATIONS

In regard of the varieties of discipline which
prevail in the catholic church, the answer which is
made to the objections arising from them, is per
haps even more obvious than the above. Not
only are these varieties of discipline not repugnant
to the unity of religion, or opposed to its maxims
or its essence not only are they not censured, or
only tolerated, they are considered by her as im
portant appendages of the divine worship, and the
dictates of wisdom, piety, and devotion. They are
approved and sanctioned by her authority. The
fact is this; the dispositions, the features, and the
wants of different nations are various therefore
should the forms of discipline which regulate them
be various likewise. Manners and times are for
ever found to alter therefore, should those prac
tices alter also which had been, hitherto, accom
modated to those objects. Such are the differences
of character, in different countries, and such the
difference of circumstances, at different periods,
that what would be wise and prudent in one coun
try, would often be foolish and pernicious in
another; what, at one period would be necessary, at
another would be preposterous. Hence the church
piously attentive to the situation of her children,
and mildly indulgent to their wants, measuring
her laws by the dictates of discretion, not only per
mits, but approves every variety of discipline,

TO SERMON I. 159

which she feels may contribute to the propagation
of virtue, and to the support of devotion. , She ac
commodates the peculiarities of her discipline to the
peculiarities of nations, times, circumstances, and
necessities. But in this, as in the differences in the
schools, there is neither any infringement of the
unity of her faith, nor any violation of the union
of her government; there is no more violation of
either, than there is a violation of the unity of the
civil laws, or civil government, where there pre
vails in different provinces and different cities, a
variety of customs, manners, practices, and fashions.
These do not lacerate, nor injure the unity of
either. In short, just as I remarked before as
nothing destroys unity in the state but rebellion,
so nothing destroys it in the church, but the refusal
of submission to her authority.

(I) PAGE 25.

Innovation in faith impossible in the catholic
church.

IF there were no other barriers to innovation in
our faith but the nature of the evidences which at
test it, and the nature of the means by which it is
attested, these alone should suffice to convince wis-

160 ILLUSTRATIONS

dom of the impossibility of such an accident.
The evidences of our faith, and the mediums
through which we receive these evidences, are the
testimony of general and particular councils assem
blies consisting of the most virtuous and enlighten
ed pastors of the Christian universe, piously in each
age, convened to watch over the sacred depositum
of revelation, to ascertain its dictates, to compare
their own belief with that of preceding periods, to
regulate their decisions by this comparison, and to
transmit their decisions, thus regulated, to succeed
ing centuries : they are the general voice of our
pastors, not now convened in councils, but dispersed
throughout their dioceses, inculcating to their
flocks what the councils had decided: they are
the instructions of our sovereign pontiff s, pointing out
to the faithful an object of discipline or belief, in
an address, which is either formally received, or
tacitly admitted by the great body of the pastors of
the church : they are the uniform doctrines of the
schools, of the pulpit, and of books : they are the
regulations of our public liturgies, the modes of our
public practices, the forms of our public prayers:
they are but to suppose that even this is not enough
to stay innovation, or at least to suppose that this is
not enough to trace the period of its intrusion, and
the nature of its mischief, were certainly to suppose
what, in the ordinary course of things, is obviously
impossible. The former supposition implies the ne-

TO SERMON I. 161

cessity of believing, that a multitude of different na
tions, where catholicity is general the bishops and
the clergy, the theologians, preachers, writers, and
instructors must have conspired among themselves,
and with the supreme pontiff, to alter the holy code
of revelation. The second includes the necessity
of believing, that a general revolution must have
taken place hi the Christian world, changing the
opinions of the faithful, altering their customs, ha
bits, and pursuits, and either, that none had observ
ed it, or that none had opposed it, or that none
had the curiosity to inform us of the growing evil.
But, it is upon motives more forcible even than
the above, that wisdom may be convinced, that no
innovation, no creation of new articles of faith, can
possibly be intruded upon catholic credulity. It is
the leading maxim of our religion, that revelation,
was communicated entire, perfect and complete,
to the apostles, containing every truth, and com
prising every tenet, which piety should adore.
Consequently, as we do not admit any new reve
lation, we cannot admit any new article of belief:
as we do not admit, that the number of truths, first
revealed to the apostles, has, since that period,
been augmented, we, consequently, cannot admit
that any new truth can be imposed upon our
reason. We believe, that the substance of faith
can neither increase, diminish, nor be altered.

163 ILLUSTRATIONS

But, here is the circumstance, which, on this
important subject, has often given occasion to the
reproaches of ignorance, and to the cavils of pre
judice. The pride of imaginary learning, it is
well known, the licentiousness of passion, and the
restlessness of the fancy have often combated, and
for ever combat, the divine truths of revelation.
Indeed, even the simplicity of ignorance, the ti
midity of sincerity, or the feelings of enlightened
piety, have been occasionally perplexed about the
import or meaning of some point of faith, and the
nature or bearing of some duty. On these occar
sions, the church has often interfered, and when
she interfered, has always issued her decisions OH
the point in contest. It is these decisions, which
as they were " new," our adversaries, very wisely,
denominated " new articles of faith."

As for the mere interference of the church on
these occasions, that, surely, cannot need the aid
of dissertation to justify it. If she be the guardian
of truth, or the guardian of the faithful, seeing the
former assailed, it is her duty to defend it, and seeing
the latter exposed to danger some of them, per
haps, seduced, and others perplexed, it is equally
her duty to come forward to their protection and
instruction. The duty of her interference, on
these occasions, is evidently urgent ; and so also is
the mode of her interference evidently wise, and
calculated to prevent the possibility of innovation.

TO SERMON I. 163

I will suppose, then, one of the cases, when
truth is combated by the artifices of sophistry, or the
arts of passion. What is the mode in which the
church interferes to prevent their mischief? As
cending the tribunal of her authority, she calls
before it the disturbers of the public harmony,
interrogates the nature of their contest, hears their
difficulties and their defence, and comparing these
with the dictates of the law, she explains the con
tested article, fixes its signification, and points out
in what consists, or where is concealed, the error
that combats its divinity ; then, in order to stay
the growth of error, she issues her decisions, in
structing the faithful, that such doctrine has been
revealed, and that such is its genuine interpreta
tion. This is the process, which in every contest
respecting faith, the church, either in her councils
or by the authority of her pastors, uniformly fol
lows. But, on these occasions, although she issues
new decrees, she adds nothing to the depositum of
faith, nothing to its substance, or to the number
of its truths. She merely asserts, that such doc
trine was revealed to the apostles, and she explains
it giving to her explanation, in consequence of
the growth of heresy and the sophistries of error,
a clearness and accuracy, which the contested
article, while uncontested, did not stand in need
of. This is a mere enlargement of interpretation,
not an enlargement of faith-, or, if you please, a

164 ILLUSTRATIONS

more explicit profession of what was before impli
citly believed. Saint Vincent of Lerins, compares
this circumstance to what takes place in the human
body: " the body" he says, "grows and expands,
yet the body is the same."

But, it is the rules and maxims, which the
church, on all occasions, ties herself to observe, that
form insurmountable barriers and preventives of
innovation. Whenever the danger of error, or
the contagion of heresy, renders it necessary for her
to define the law of truth, in order to fix the faith,
or perplexity of the faithful, she ties herself not
only to regulate her definitions by the authority of
the sacred scriptures, but to explain the sacred scrip
tures, as they have always, in each preceding age,
been explained before. Placing before her the de
cisions of every general council, she approves and
sanctions these; professing, that any deviation from
them would be a deviation from the paths of truth ;
consulting the doctrines of the venerable fathers
of the early ages, and the unanimous and universal
voice of ancient tradition, she adopts their testi
mony, as the living commentary upon the sacred
volume ; and she solemnly binds herself to receive
nothing but what they have unanimously professed,
and to sanction nothing but what they have unani
mously approved. Thus circumstanced, it is plain
that so far from rendering herself the author or
the mistress of the faith of her subjects, she

TO SERMON I. 165

does every thing to divest herself of the pos
sibility of attempting such an evil. If even she
had the inclination, she acknowledges that she has
not the power. The fact is, she has neither the
one nor the other. Innovation is quite inconsistent
with her constitution.

(K) PAGE 26.

On the necessity of an infallibk tribunal.

IF the unity of faith and the protestant admits
it be a necessary appendage of the true religion;
if the stability of faith and he admits this too
be an essential quality in the true believer, then I
infer, and I think the inference plain, as any de
monstration in the rule of morals that a tribunal,
such as that which the catholic reveres, is necessary
and essential

To whoever reflects on the countless varieties of
the human character, the infinite shades of preju
dices and passions, the differences of dispositions,
feelings, and capacities, the motley forms of habits,
interests, and educations to whoever reflects upon
these circumstances, to him it must almost appear fol
ly to undertake to prove, that, let what may be the
nature of the truth which is held out to general con
templation, or proposed to general acceptance, all

166 ILLUSTRATIONS

would not behold it in the same point of view, nor
embrace it with the same ready acquiescence. No,
not even if it were the most rational truth imagi
nable though it were hung round with marks of
wisdom, and set off with ablaze of evidence, would
all equally agree in its propriety, its clearness, and
identity. We have seen even the demonstrations
of mathematics, the most simple truths in physics,
the most incontestible maxims of reason called in
question, and called in question, not by the igno
rant and unlettered, but by men who have stood
upon the highest eminences of polished literature.
There have been men, who have contested the
demonstrations of Archimedes and Euclid, denied
the existence of bodies, disputed the possibility of
motion, and blasphemed the most incontestible
maxims of morality. Formed as men are, the
playthings of passion, and the dupes of the imagi
nation, there is nothing so impossible to establish
among them as unanimity of opinion, as there is
nothing, in fact, so rare in the walks of life. To
suppose it possible, were to suppose what is neither
in the nature of men, nor in the nature of truths.
It were supposing, that men have all the same
acuteness to discern, the same capacity to compre
hend, the same industry to investigate, and the
same impartiality to acknowledge. It were sup
posing, that truths have always the same aspect, and
are placed, always, in the same situation, that they

TO SERMON I. 167

are never obscured by clouds, elevated upon emi
nences, nor surrounded by rocks, precipices, la
byrinths, and mazes. But the case is, neither do
men all resemble each other, nor do truths even
the plainest truths always present themselves in
the same attitudes and features.

Hence, suppose a truth, which is obscure, be
proposed to general contemplation and accep
tance, it is obvious, that men will disagree about
its signification, and interpret it, conformably to
the dictates of their passions, their fancy, or their
interests. But add to its obscurity the implication
of some duty, or of some restraint upon the heart
that is, suppose it be difficult and repulsive, or
sublime and painful, the consequence would be,
that few would understand it, in the same manner,
and still fewer adopt it, as a rule of conduct. It
is a circumstance which is unfortunate, as it is in
contestable, that it is much more easy to impress
errors, than truths, and to instil pernicious max
ims, than to imprint virtuous ones. The reason
is error is more attractive to the perversity of the
mind, than truth; and vice more congenial to its
corruption, than virtue. To impress truth, you
must not only convince the understanding, you
must gratify the heart: you must interest both.
The understanding will not long retain the in>
pressions of a truth, which the heart dislikes.
Either it will shut its eyes, or turn them away

168 ILLUSTRATIONS

from its contemplation. The proof of all this is,
every day, before us. Error is more common far,
than truth, vice more prevalent far, than virtue.
Among the ignorant, in particular, and the vulgar,
the mere admiration of novelty whatever be its
absurdity is sufficient to seduce and captivate
them. Present to them aught that is unusual, un
der a pleasing form, they will embrace it with
avidity, and sacrifice to its phantoms the substan
tial benefits of the truth. The vulgar are, nearly
all, like the inhabitants of those barbarous nations
which travellers describe, who, indifferent to the
real and valuable objects which are shewn them,
prefer the tinsel-toy, the necklace and the feather.
Whatever be the importance or the evidence of
truth though you press it upon them, with all
the energies of eloquence, unless it be grateful to
their passions, their prejudices, or their interests,
they prefer the glare of falsehood to its brightness,
and the illusions of seduction to its purity.

Therefore, to come to the truths of revealed re
ligion. The truths of revealed religion, are, in
the first place, obscure impervious to all the re
searches of human industry, though it be united
with all the acuteness of human penetration ; they
are, in the next place, repulsiveimposing upon
the heart a series of restraints, the most painful to
its corruption, and the most repugnant to its self-
love. Consequently, if the principles which I

**

TO SERMON I. 160

have just laid down, be correct, how can it be
expected or imagined, formed and situated as men
are, that all will, witJwut a guide, understand them
alike ; or without an adequate authority to enforce,
them, embrace them, unreservedly? No, doubt
lessly, although even their necessity be admitted,
the necessity of believing them in their genuine
signification ; and the necessity too of believing them
steadily, yet will men left to the guidance of their
own judgment, incessantly misunderstand and mis
interpret them ; often they will disbelieve, and not
unfrequently deride and vilify them. It is there
fore manifest, that if these be evils, that should
be prevented, the only medium to prevent
them, is the institution of an authority, or the
erection of a tribunal, which error cannot mis
lead an infallible and supreme tribunal, re
vered by the faithful as the guardian of revela
tion, and respected by them as the arbiter of their
belief. It is, indeed, impossible for good sense to
conceive any other medium, that is competent to
prevent the evils of discord and disbelief, or ade
quate to maintain the unity and integrity of the
truths of revelation. It is the only means which
bears any proportion to these greatly important
ends.

That such tribunal is, indeed, equal to these
ends, it cannot be called in question. Men, of
course, will submit their reason, and regulate their
22

170 ILLUSTRATIONS

faith by the direction of a power, which, they are
assured, cannot deceive them. They will believe
with steadiness, where they arc convinced, that er
ror cannot steal in. The advantages also, which
result from such tribunal, are obvious as its ne
cessity Put the case and it is a case which ha*
happened incessantly, and will happen to the end
of time put the case, that a mere doubt arise
among the faithful respecting any point of Christian
doctrine, how would it be removed, without the
interference of such tribunal ? Did each appeal to
his reason, to his feelings, to the supposed dictate
of inspiration, as these would all be found to
differ in different judgments and capacities, the con
sequence would be, that, as each would decide for
himself, there would be as many opinions nearly as
judges, and the doubt, so far from being removed,
would be augmented. Such, indeed, is the fact
among all the various sects of Christianity. All,
where indolence, or ignorance, or bigotry, do not
induce them to believe any thing, all is doubt, un
certainty and instability. But, admit an infallible
tribunal. It speaks ; and the faithful revering it,
as the living oracle established by God to interpret
the contests, which may arise among them, hear its
determination, and unreservedly, to adopt it The
doubt vanishes, and uncertainty changes to stability
and conviction. It is the same, in the cases, where
error attempt to diffuse its poison, or the love of

TO SERMON I.

norelty labours to impair the integrity of revelation*
The church speaks ; the faithful hear her voice,
and respecting it, as the voice of the " spirit of
truth,' 1 the error and the novelty cease almost to
be contagious ; at least, they cease to be contagi
ous to all, but the weak, the wicked, and the profane.
I have remarked, in my discourse, that the re
formers, aware of the necessity of some kind of
means to preserve the unity of faith, and check the
progress of error, had attempted, at different pe
riods, to substitute various expedients in room of
the great medium, which they had rejected. They
substituted, first, I remarked, the influences of
reason. But these did not suffice to produce the
desired effect, for as reason differed in almost every
individual, in almost every individual it generated
a different belief, while in some it generated dis
belief. They substituted the holy scriptures : but
the scriptures, although they are the sources of
truth and unity, became, under their interpreta
tions, the innocent occasions of fresh heresy and
new divisions. By rejecting the authority of the
church, says Bolingbroke, and fixing in its stead
the authority of the scriptures, "we freed our
selves from spiritual tyranny, but we fell into
spiritual anarchy" They substituted the aids of
inspiration, but these still produced the same variety
of opinion, with the additional evil of a more de
termined obstinacy in its defence. " It produced"*

ILLUSTRATIONS

flays the same philosophical writer, " as many forms
of faith, as whimsical teachers could invent" The
mischief of all these resources was this, they
proved every thing, and therefore nothing. They
proved any thing, that passion, or pride, or bigot
ry, or ignorance, or the fancy pleased ; and so far
from supporting unity, or preventing the growth
of error, they increased disorder, and swelled the
tide of heresy.

At the opening of the reformation, its apostles,
with one voice and that voice was loud as the
thunder's peal shaking the foundations of some of
the strongest fabrics of the universe its apostle*
had declaimed against the influences of authority
in religion. They had called it tyranny founded
upon usurpation, and upholden by interest and
auperstition. " Only" this was their incessant
cry " only read the scriptures, and judge for your
selves. Your reason and the voice of God mil in
struct 2/oie, how to understand them." We know
it these addresses had their effect. Men read,
judged, decided for themselves, and as it was
natural, and expected, abandoned the ancient fold.
But then too here occurred the thing, which
though equally natural, was not, equally expected;
still reading, and judging, and deciding for
themselves, men soon abandoned, likewise, the
apostles, who first animated them to read, and
induced them to employ their own reason, as their

TO SERMON I. 173

guide. The Lutherans, multitudes of them be
came Calvinists, the Calvinists, Independents; the
Independents, Anabaptists each sect, the prolific
parent of twenty other sects, each differing from
each other, as much as each differed from its pa
rent institute. But, see now the inconsistency! The
men, who had just vilified authority the voices,
which had just so emphatically proclaimed it ty
ranny, now preached its benefits, and vociferated,
still louder, its necessity. Their very inconsistency
is a striking attestation of its necessity. " Obey"
they now called out, "obey your superiors: submit
to the pastors, whom God has appointed to rule the
faithful. It is theirs to instruct you; yours to follow
the guidance of their ivisdom. For what" they
added, "becomes of the subordination, which the
scriptures, so frequently, enjoin, if each one be the
arbiter of his own belief; or what becomes of
humility, which religion, so forcibly, inculcates, if
every individual be an oracle and a judge?" Thus
did the apostles of the reformation, like all the
apostles of revolution and rebellion, preach liberty
to the subjects of established authority, and obedi
ence to the dupes of their ambition. To seduce the
catholic, they urged the necessity of discussion, and
to restrain him, when seduced, the necessity of sub
mission, To the catholic they presented the most
unlimited mental emancipation, to the protestant
blind obedience and implicit faith. Yes; they even

174 ILLUSTRATIONS

while inculcating to the former the tyranny of au
thority, and the folly of believing creeds, exercised
over the latter the most arbitrary despotism, and,
in many instances, compelled him not only to receive
their new creeds, but to swear, that he believed them
to be inspired. In short, in every case, where the
bold sectarist had the talents to impose upon the
credulity of the public, the good fortune to gain
adherents, and the power to form an establishment,
he always terminated his apostolical career by con
tradicting his first doctrines, recalling the influences
of authority, and erecting a new tribunal, after the
plan, and upon the ruins of that, which his in
dustry had just destroyed.

After proving the necessity of authority from the
conduct of the protestants, it may perhaps appear
singular, that I should point out the inconsistency
of such conduct. It seems almost like proving a
proposition, and then proving, that the arguments,
which establish it, are illusive. However, such is,
by no means, the case. The very inconsistency,
I have observed, is itself the strongest attestation
of the necessity of authority; for if the men,
who had treated it as a system of tyranny, and
discarded it from their principles, were themselves
reduced to call it back, it could only have been,
because they were forcibly convinced of its ne
cessity.

To dwell, then, a few moments, upon the cir-

TO SERMON I. 175

cumstance of this inconsistency. Tutored as the
disciples of the reformation were to the maxims and
love of liberty, it is not to be expected, that all
would, tamely, acquiesce in the re-assumption of
the ancient principles of authority; above all it is
not to be expected, that they would, tamely, ac
quiesce in submission to a set of men, who had built
their own power upon the rejection of these princi
ples. In the great body of protestants, there were
men of the greatest talents, united with the great
est erudition, and who had detached themselves
from the parent institute, more from their ardor for
liberty, than from any other principle. These felt
all the inconsistency of the conduct of the first re
formers, and, on several occasions, very forcibly re
sented it. Some of their remonstrances against the
conduct of Luther and Calvin, are eloquent and im
pressive. I will transcribe, as one of the best spe
cimens of such remonstrances, what, at a subse
quent period, the Arminians a class of protestants,
after the Socinians, the most consistent of all the
sectarists made on the occasion of the synod of
Dort. (That synod, it is well known, had imperi
ously demanded the acceptance of its decrees.)
" Why? say these able advocates of protestant liberty,
*' why exact, that our inspiration or judgment should
yield to your opinion ? The opinion of every society,
our apostles, the first reformers, declared to be falli
ble; and consequently, to exact submission to its die-

178 ILLUSTRATIONS

tales, they with, great consistency, defined to be ty
ranny. Thus, they defined it, in regard of tlie
church of Rome, and yourselves have sanctioned their
decision. Why, therefore, exercise a dominion over
us, which you stigmatise, as tyranny in a church,
compared with wJiose greatness, you dwindle into in
significance? IftJiere be any crime in resisting tJie
decisions of our pastors, then are you, and we, and
all of us, guilty of resisting the authority of the
church of Rome, which existed before us, and of
which our forefathers were a potation. If, indeed,
such resistance be a crime, tlien let us altogetJwr
abandon the reformation, blot out the stain of our
origin, and run back to tJie bosom of catholicity.
Or, if such resistance be no crime, why require from
MS a submission, which we do not owe you? You
object to MS, that our doctrine is contrary to the word
of God, and we assert, that it is yours, which is re
pugnant to it. WJien the church of Rome, imperi
ously, demanded the submission of our fatJiers, our
fatlwrs requested to be, first, instructed and convinc
ed oftlw truth of the doctrines thus pressed upon them;
and because they were not convinced of their truth,
they refused to subscribe to them. We present to
you the same request. Instruct and convince us.
Or, since you do not convince us as your decisions
contrary to our inspirations and to the dictate of
our reason, allow us to differ from you as you do
from the parent church. Either, in short, aUow u*

TO SERMON I. 177

the liberty, which our forefatJiers claimed, and your
selves approve, or let us altogetfier run back to the
fold, which they abandoned" What solidity of
reasoning, and what force of eloquence! How
strikingly is here pointed out the inconsistency of
the pretensions, which any protestant establishment
can claim to control faith by authority, or to regu
late creeds, under the pretext of superior wisdom!
Most certainly, neither the fathers of the synod of
Dort, nor the ministers of any protestant establish
ment, which like the fathers of Dort arrogate to
themselves the right of controling faith, could make
any rational answer to the above remonstrances.

It is not, here, the place to shew, that the au
thority, which each protestant establishment, in op
position to the principles of protestantism, assumes
to itself of regulating the faith of its members, in
order to maintain unity among them, is quite incom
petent to this end. I shall shew this, in a subse
quent illustration. Suffice it, here, to refer the
reader to a tolerably lucid proof of this incompeten-
cy, in the establishment of this country, in which
unity, not only does not prevail, among its members,
in general, it does not subsist even among its cler
gy, who, if their chains were not cobwebs to them,
should seem, very strongly, rivited to it. "In the
body of our clergy" says Nightingale, "we have
Calvinian, Jlrminian, Unitarian, Swedenburgian,
Pelagian, Man, Socinian, Sabellian, Trinitarian
23

178 ILLUSTRATIONS

and / do not know how many other sorts of clergy
men, some starving in a curacy, and others fattening
in a bishopric. We have Methodistical clergymen,
and clergymen with no method at all. Jitt these
classes of clergymen are retained in the church, tive
upon her revenues, and are protected by her laws."
And Mason Good remarks, speaking of the articles
of the established creed, "even these articles are very
differently interpreted by the right reverend bench
itself"

Hence it follows, not that authority is not ne
cessary to maintain unity in faith, but that protes-
tant authority is not necessary for that purpose.
Not that authority is not competent to maintain it,
but that protestant authority is not competent
it follows, that an authority, such only as the ca
tholic church reveres, is necessary and competent to
that end an authority supreme, unerring, and in
fallible the institution of our great legislator, and
as such, venerated by the faithful.

TO SERMON It. 179

(A) PAGE 32.

On tke Miberciltty qf the superior protestant clergy.

IT ought to appear singular, I have had the
occasion to remark before, that this nation, which
is superior to every other in general liberality,
should be inferior to every other in liberality to
Roman catholics. But, it ought to appear even
more than singular, to whoever has not traced the
cause of the apparent phenomenon, that the most
enlightened portion of the nation, and which ought
also from religious principles, to be the most li
beral, is, amid all the variety of its members, the
most illiberal, and the most intolerant. And, yet,
such is the fact ! Whoever will consult the opin
ions and feelings of the nation in regard of catho
lics, will discover, that while the vulgar are the
dupes of the strongest prejudices against us while
the walks of opulence and the avenues of power
are crowded with men, who contemn or dislike
us the clergy, he will find it true, are those,
who, above all others, entertain not only the
strongest prejudices, but in general for, I by no
means allude to all the fiercest animosity against
us ; and, without cause or provocation, still, in
cessantly exert the malignant influence of their

180 ILLUSTRATIONS

talents in fomenting that ill-will, or feetling that
virulence, which it is their duty to extinguish.
The few extracts, which I shall subjoin to this and
the following illustration, will present a tolerable
attestation of their spirit. I might, indeed, produce
a tolerable attestation of the spirit of the higher
members of the clergy, by an appeal to the late
discussions of our claims, in the house of lords.
On some of these occasions, not one solitary indivi
dual had the liberality to give his vote, that justice
should be done to a large, respectable, and avow
edly loyal portion of his fellow subjects.* Not, in
deed, that I mean to infer, that whoever, on those
occasions, gave his vote against our claims, is
therefore an illiberal man, or a bigot. I say only,
that their vote is " a tolerable" attestation of their
spirit. It is probable, that mere political motives,
the creatures and effects of accident, induced some

*On the occasion of the last discussion of our claims, I
relate it with gratitude and pleasure, one very distinguish
ed prelate the Bishop of Norwich had the liberality to vote
in our favor. The speech, which this great man then deliver
ed, is a monument of wisdom, which marks, equally, the great
ness of his mind, and the goodness of his heart. In imitation
of the beautiful and classic compliment, which Cremutius
pays, I believe, to Caesar, when he tells him, that not Brutus
and Cassius only shall be remembered in imitation of this
compliment, I say to this prelate and every catholie feeling
repeats it with me not Grenvilie, or Grey alone shall be re
membered by us; Bathurst, too, shall for ever be dear to our
gratitude.

TO SERMON II. 181

distinguished members of the bench to give a vote,
which their liberality disavowed.

That the English protestant, like the protestant
of every other country, should, till the late dawn
of liberality, have been illiberal, is a circumstance,
which a variety of causes, both moral and political,
may explain. The phenomenon- or rather only
apparent phenomenon is, why, when other estab
lishments have become liberal, and the great pre
text for illiberality among us is done away, ours
alone retains nearly all its ancient want of modera
tion ? One reason is, certainly, this, that although
in other nations the first impulse, that was given
to the business of the reformation was strong and
violent, it was in this nation, stronger and more
violent, than in any other, and therefore con
tinued to vibrate here, when, there it subsided
to comparative calmness. In this country, too
each reader knows it, who knows aught of the
history of his country in this country the zeal
against popery, has always been considered as the
best test of orthodoxy, the strongest recommendation
to public favour, and the surest (almost an unfail
ing) step to patronage, to preferment and to honours.
I honestly believe, that with the exception of those,
(though, not all should be excepted) but with the
exception of those, who from high birth and ex
alted patronage had a claim to the great dignities of
the churchI honestly believe, that it would on ex-

182 ILLUSTRATIONS

animation be discovered, that since the era of the
reformation, above all at certain periods, there have
been few, very few of our bishops, who did not owe
their honours to their zeal against us, and who did
not pass to the episcopal throne through the nasty
puddles of calumny and the abuse of popery: Or,
if it be not profane to allude to so pagan a com
parison, it would on examination, I think, be
found, that not as the Romans passed through the
temple of virtue to enter the temple of honor, these
gentlemen, nearly all, passed through the temple
of illiberally to enter the temple of riches. Owing
to circumstances also, which it is not mine to ex
plain, this ancient passage to the episcopacy is not
even now walled up. If, now, an examination
were instituted into the methods, by which men
of no fortunes, but considerable talents, attained
the episcopacy, I think, it would be found true,
that a very general method has been the abuse of
popery. And who, but he that is unacquainted
with the temper of our present administration an
administration hostile almost to popery, as that
of Walsingham and Cecil, who, but he, can doubt,
that such method is still, by far, the most effectual.*

* I mark the date, and suggest the motive of this apprehen
sion, lest, at a subsequent period, the imputation, which it im
plies, might be referred to a time, to which it is not applicable,
or to men, who do not merit it. We live, now, under the ad
ministration, descriptively, and very properly, called the NO
POPERY administration : an. 1808-9.

TO SERMON II. 183

That men, whose infant reason had been cradled
and nursed to prejudices against popery, whose sub
sequent education, in the schools, or at the uni
versity, still fed their early prejudices T and whose
pursuits in society present few opportunities to cor
rect them that such men, from such causes only,
should be illiberal to us, it is natural to expect.
But if to these causes you add, also, the impulses
of profit and worldly comforts if it become the
interest of men to insult us if their insult be con
sidered as the proof of their orthodoxy and the
effect of zeal, and receive the rewards of orthodoxy
and zeal, of course, hosts of adversaries will rise up
to villify us. There will always be men to combat
any kind of truth, or to defend any form of error,
if it be made an object of their interest and ambi
tion to do it. The walks of life are crowded with
men of this description, who offer more oblations
at the shrine of the god of riches, than at any other
fane who will sacrifice almost any principle of
piety to the furtherance of their temporal welfare,
or, who like the late Dr. Patey " cannot affbrd^-
so he used to say of himself-" to keep a conscience"
Interest, too, is a cheat, giving easily to falsehood
the face of truth, and to truth the face of error.

Interest, that waves on party colourM wing's
Turn'd to the sun, she casts a thousand dyes.
And as she turns, the colours fall or rise.

184 ILLUSTRATIONS

It is to one or other of the above maxims, that
reason must recur to explain the insults and misre
presentations, of which a large portion of the pro-
testant clergy are guilty in their delineations of our
religion. We are insulted, often, and often mis
represented, because it is the interest of our adver
saries to insult and misrepresent us. And certain
it is, that were I a protestant -clergymen, and an
eloquent man, who could "ill afford to keep a
conscience," and who were feebly held by the ties
of conscience, it should be by insulting popery, that
I would seek preferment ; and by persevering in
insult, hope confidently, to attain preferment.

By the principle of prejudice united with interest,
it is easy to account for the hostility of one portion
of our exalted clergy, and by the principle of pre
judice joined to ignorance, it would be, equally,
easy to account for the animosity of the other. Not,
indeed I have just observed, that under these two
classes, I mean to include the whole body of our
episcopacy. I mean only to allude to those, who
traduce us by their writings, or insult us in their
discourses. Thank Heaven, the protestant prelates,
although I may have seemed to impeach their libe
rality, on the occasion of the discussion of our
claims, are not all illiberal. On Norwich's pa
lace the ray of liberality shines with the brightest
lustre. It beams, too, upon the palace, where
once the horrid spirit of the sanguinary Abbot used

TO SERMON II. 185

to frown vengeance on us. It gilds York's man
sion, likewise, and it smiles upon the mansions of
two or three other prelates, whose predecessors
were piously employed " in beating, incessantly,
the drum ecclesiastic," and in animating the public
to abhor us. However, peace to all those, who are,
not yet, equally liberal with the Bathursts, the
Buttons, and the Vernons. Only, may the ray,
which illumines their palaces, be soon diffused over
the palace of every prelate of the united kingdoms,
and may they all discover which, really, is the
case that it is the interest of the nation and of the
establishment itself, to extend the influences of jus
tice, moderation, and liberality to catholics.

As I shall present extracts from the works and
discourses of only a small number of prelates, I
will give the general character of all their composi
tions, on the subject of popery. With some small
variations in the distortion of feature, or some tri
fling difference in the darkness of the shades of their
portraits, either of popery or the papist, there is a
very striking similitude in them all. It is easy to dis
cover, that all have been educated in the same
school, and formed under the same masters. The
general features of these compositions are misre
presentation and insult. They first attribute to us
what we do not profess, and then ridicule us, or
blame us sometimes, good-natured men! only
pity us, for professing it. The misrepresentation
24

186 ILLUSTRATIONS

is an apology for the ridicule ; which, in reality,
would be merited, if their accounts of our doctrines
were correct. To believe their accounts of our
doctrines, there is nothing in paganism so absurd,
nothing in error so preposterous, nothing in the
annals of folly and superstition so foolish, so pitiful,
BO bigoted. Our principles, too, they tell the
public, are even more horrible, than our specula
tive doctrines. While they often, very charitably,
affect to laugh at the latter, as ridiculous, rather
than dangerous, our principles they exhibit in
colours, which are calculated either to excite the
public aversion, or to arm its apprehensions. We
profess, they solemnly tell their readers, or their
hearers, principles, "that sanction falsehood and
deceit : that sanctify murder, that canonize all the
various enormities of vice." Often, in order to
give relief to their portraits to heighten their co
louring, and to throw more darkness upon their
shades, they have recourse to the awful repository
of terrific objects the book of revelations; and
borrowing, among these frightful things, the most
frightful, they exhibit them, as the true and genu
ine representation of our religion. Our supreme
pastor, for example, they triumphantly display,
adorned with all the emblems and decorations of
Antichrist Indeed, the late great, good, and
amiable Bishop Hurd, observes, that " the circum
stance of making and believing the pope to be

TO SERMON II. 187

Christ^ is the first leading principle of the reforma-
timP What wonder, of course, that the holy
principle should, incessantly, be inculcated! In
like manner, they depict our church, as " the
great antichristian apostacy, the mother of forni
cations and abominations, full of the names of
blasphemy, and dmnk with the blood of the saints"
Suffice it to say, that they draw, as Dryden re
marks, a hideous daub, which they call the portrait
of popery, in which is

Nor line, nor look, nor shade, nor colour true.

The late Dr. Geddes, who, I believe, never wrote
a word, that was dictated by an overweening affec
tion to catholicity, and who always loved to admire
its enemies, whenever either their conduct or their
writings were, even distantly, calculated to merit
admiration says, that, "of at least, a hundred
combatants, who have, within these last twenty years^
declared themselves the champions ofprotestancy, or
rather the adversaries of popery, I am perfectly safe
to say, there are not Jive, who have not shot at us
from an envenomed quiver ; who have not misrepre
sented our doctrines, and realized, by their injustice
to us, thefabk of the wolf, that quarrelkd with the
lamb" The doctor was, certainly, more con
versant than I am, with the writings of the pro-
testant clergy, and I regret, that when he seems
to insinuate, that there, possibly, may be fire,

J88 ILLUSTRATIONS

who have combated us fairly, he has not pointed
out, who any of the five may be. I should admire,
and could love the man, who had the candor to
attack us liberally. But for my own part, I not
only do not believe, that the last twenty years
have produced five liberal combatants of popery,
I do not believe I cordially wish my judgment
may be rash that they have produced one.

It is their duty all these good men think,

T' espouse the cause, by which they eat and drink;

And zeal peculiar privilege affords,

Indulging latitude to deeds and words.

It is not that I mean to censure any protestant
for combating our religion. I censure him only
for doing it, uncandidly. I do not censure him
even for combating it with warmth ; I censure him,
only, because he does it with intemperance be
cause he does not reason, but quarrel with us
not refute, but insult us not point out our
errors, but misrepresent our truths. All this,
whilst it is repugnant to the mild maxims of
religion, is also unwise, unjust, and illiberal;
and if, too, the love of reputation be dear to their
feelings, it is should the public become liberal
and enlightened adverse to their future reputation.

It is repugnant to the maxims of religion. Even
the defence of religion should, like religion itself,
be all benevolence. Dictated by the solicitude,

TO SERMON II. 189

which man should feel for his fellow man, it should
lean upon the basis of charity, and though it forcibly
blame the crime of error, it should breathe all the
tenderness of compassion for those that err. But,
to employ abuse and misrepresentation, to deride,
vilify, and offend the men to whom the supposed
defence is addressed, in order to persuade, en
lighten, and convince them, this is offering an in
sult to every principle of religion. It is clothing
her in the garb of passion, and putting on her the
mantle of falsehood. It is condemning her to do
mischief, under the pretext of doing good.

It is, also, unwise. Wisdom is the sister of re
ligion, and like religion, is calm, candid, and be
nevolent. She does not labour to break, she stu
dies always how to draw closer the bands of union.
Violence, or invective, or illiberality, she considers
as "the reason of folly," the expression of the
weakness of the cause, which needs, and the proof
of the weakness of the men who use it. The only
authority in her eye, which either the possession of
the truth, or the zeal for truth, gives to any one
individual over another, is the right to enlighten
his ignorance, not to deride his misfortune, the
privilege to labour to persuade, not the prerogative
to insult him. Wisdom condemns rancor and in
sincerity, more far, than she reprobates ignorance
and error.

190 ILLUSTRATIONS

It is unjust; because by holding out the catholic
religion as foolish, idolatrous and cruel which
alone, if not evinced by tolerable proofs, is an in
justice it holds out the catholic which is, per
haps a greater injustice as a fool, an idolater, and
a dangerous citizen. It tends to rob him of that con
fidence, to which, as a man, he stands entitled, to
deprive him of that respect, to which as a citizen,
he has a claim, and to take from him those prero
gatives, to which, as a subject, he has a right. I
might add too, that in these times, under the cir
cumstances in which the nation is placed, it is, or
might at least eventually prove, a serious injustice
to the nation, because as it is calculated to create
discontent, it is, consequently, calculated to create
disunion ; and disunion, at the present, period might
be, I do not say fatal, but seriously injurious to the
interest and welfare of the country.

It is illiberal; for not only does the protestant
fabric in this nation repose upon the broad platform
of catholicity, not only has it imitated its form
of government, and adopted many of its laws,
canons, and modes of discipline,-- -but to it, and
to the munificence of our good and pious catholic
ancestors, it owes all its opulence and splendor.
To the catholic, the prelate owes his see, his lawn
sleeves, and his luxuries the prebendary, his
stall, his livings, and his comforts the parson,
his parish, his tithes, and his Easter-dues. Surely

TO SERMON II. 191

these circumstances alone should render the pro-
testant ministry, if not grateful, modest: they
should induce them to be, if not respectful,
moderate. At least, they should stay insult, and
silence calumny.

It is injurious, in short, to the future reputation,
to which it is probable, these men aspire. The vio
lent, during the fever of passion, or the fermenta
tion of fanaticism, may enjoy the approbation of
the party, whose doctrines they find it their interest
to defend. The bigot, of course, will applaud the
bigot, and even the good mistaken man, who
duped by ignorance, or cheated by misrepresenta
tion, is the victim of prejudice even he, for a
time, may applaud the apparent zeal, which most
loudly vociferates insult, or which, most illiberally
combats truth. Fortunately, however, there is a
reflux in the human mind from violence and il-
liberality to moderation and benevolence; and a
reflux too, which sometimes in its ebb, is propor
tioned in its depression, to the height, to \vhich,
under the storm, it had risen in its exaltation.
And then, the consequence is, it despises the
men, whom, before, it had admired, and con
temns their writings, however in other respects
valuable, because they want those best of all re
commendations to esteem -candor, calmness, and
liberality. It is thus, at present, the wise and tem
perate despise the works of the ancient heroes of

192 ILLUSTRATIONS

the reformation. And posterity more temper
ate and wise, perhaps, than we are, will despise
the works of the men, to whom I have been allud
ing. Discovering, that the objects which they
had represented as realities, are only the dreams of
their own imaginations; that what they had exhi
bited as monsters, are but visions conjured up by
their prejudices to cheat the weak discovering
this, posterity, while it may laugh at the credulity,
which believed them, and will certainly pity those
whom the credulity may have injured, will mark
down its authors as the enemies of society, and of
the cause which they had so improperly pretended
to support. Whoever is ambitious of the approba
tion of posterity, or whoever wishes his memory to
be hung round with eulogies, let him be assured
of this, that it is not by misrepresentation and in
sult, that he will attain these honours. The repu
tation which the wise man values, must rest upon
the basis of truth and charity. *

* The very learned and very liberal Doctor Parr, not only
bears witness to the intemperance which I have attributed
to the protestant clergy, but reprobates it with a severity of
term, which I have not ventured to employ. "/ am pain
ed," he says, "with the outrageous invectives which are thrown
out against the church of Rome. I must confess that they
appear to me not only unjust and indiscreet, but INHUMAN."
"It is," he adds, "unworthy of an Englishman and a pro
testant to treat the catholics as incorrigible outcasts from
society, and stubborn apostates from all religious truth."
Notes on the life of Mr. Fox.

TO SERMON II. 193

But I will now proceed to give a few extracts
from the writings of some of our modern prelates,
as specimens of the spirit which I have censured,
both in this note and in my discourse.

Dr. S. B.

Dr. S. B. has presented in his writings, and
much more frequently in his addresses from the
pulpit, some striking specimens of this spirit. In
a discourse which he preached before the lords in
the year 1799, he tells their lordships, "that po
pery is exceedingly corrupt, and by its corruption,
liable to the objections of thinking men. It is
continued in many powerful kingdoms, not from
any opinions of its evidence and truth, but from
an utter indifference to all religious truth whatever!
Its effects upon those who conducted public
affairs, or ruled public manners, were habitual
insincerity in themselves, and a neglect of that at
tention, and of those provisions which are necessary
to inculcate the principles of any religion, and to
preserve its influence upon the people !"

But this, though illiberal, is all tenderness when
compared to what, on two subsequent occasions,
his lordship has presented to the public. About
two years ago, kind, loving pastor! he preached
and published a sermon, which, in his tenderness,
he calls his last farewell to his diocesans, and which,
25

194 ILLUSTRATIONS

in his wisdom, he probably considered the best lega
cy, which his solicitude for their salvation, or his zeal
for orthodoxy could bequeath. At all events, it is
a very strong attestation of his lordship's sentiments
respecting popery, and a very striking monument
of his talents and acquirements in the art of insult.

From this sermon I shall transcribe only the con
clusion. After attributing to us doctrines which
we do not believe, and misrepresenting those which
we do believe: after accusing us of a mutilation of
the decalogue, of which we are not guilty, and cor
rupting the scripture himself to substantiate his
charges against us : after describing us as the pa
trons of ignorance and the enemies of learning, he
thus sums up all he has said against us. "This is
the general conclusion, that the doctrines and
usages of the church of Rome, are, derogatory
from the honour of God injurious to the distin
guishing principles of Christianity obstructive to
the diffusion of scripture knowledge ; and therefore
to the progress of the gospel detrimental to the
cultivation of the original languages of the scriptures:
and in its effects to the best purposes of ancient learn
ing."* If such be the conclusion, let the reader
judge what the premises must have been.

In the last pamphlet, which his lordship has given
to the public, and which is designed to be a defence

* Bishop of Durham's charge, page 1 1.

TO SERMON II. 195

and elucidation of the preceding sermon without
any compunction for his past illiberality, or any
misgivings for his intemperance, which both the
chills of age and the interval for reflection should
have cooled, he persists in the same career, and
may perhaps seem to have added fresh fuel to his
former flame.

I will not transcribe any paragraphs or sentences
from this pamphlet. Suffice it to state, that its pro
fessed object is to prove, that we papists are guilty
of idolatry, of blasphemy and sacrilege: "of
idolatry, by the adoration of the host of blaspJie-
my, by tJie invocation of angels and saints, and of
sacrilege, by the suppression of half tlw Eucharist.''' *

Those pagan days have passed away, when al
most every form of vice and folly, had, equally,
with piety and wisdom, its temple, its altar and its
priesthood, else, we might now perhaps have had
sanctuaries erected to illiberality and dulness. I
only remark, that if such, indeed, were still the state
of things, nothing would be more easy, than to
point out the men, who would answer, very ad
mirably, and figure with singular distinction, in the
capacity of the high priests of these hallowed
fanes.

I do not attribute the illiberality of Dr. S. B. to
malice. I hope, and believe, that he is incapable

. 8.

196 ILLUSTRATIONS

of so dark a crime. I attribute it to ignorance;
and his ignorance, I attribute to prejudice. I think
that he does not know our religion, and therefore
hates it, and he hates it, because he does not know
it. The case is extremely common; indeed, it is
almost the universal case with the adversaries of
popery. Like the enemies of Christianity, whom
Tertullian mentions trained early to entertain the
falsest notions 'of it, they, of course, dislike it; and
disliking it, they, of course, shrink from the study
of its doctrines. Malunt nescire, quia jam odcrunt.
Without this principle, it is impossible to explain
either the illiberality of Dr. S. B. or the bigotry of
a multitude of protestants, who like him, misrepre
sent and vilify our tenets. As I have just quoted
Tertullian, I will add to my quotation the admoni
tion or reproach; which almost immediately after
the above words, that great and sensible writer ad
dresses to the enemies of the true religion:

Si damnas, cur non inquiris?

It would be useful to Dr. S. B. if, before he pub
lishes the labours, which he promises the public, he
would follow the advice of Tertullian, and inquire,
wisely, into our doctrines.*

*To the charge and pamphlet of Dr. S. B. answers
have been returned, which, while they place their author
in the first ranks of the most acute, elegant, and dis
tinguished writers, place hia adversary, and a host of hi*

TO SERMON II. 197

THE LATE DR. PORTEUS.

It is, in general, wrong and indecorous to say
aught unhandsome of the dead. Their defects, it
is very properly thought, should be buried with
them: and as. too, they possess not the means of
self-defence, it is considered an act of cowardice to
defame them. Hence, the very just and religious
maxim, De mortuis, nil nisi bonum. However,
the fact, is, the works of Dr. P. still live, and live
to add, daily, to the tide of public prejudice, and to
injure our religion. They are much read, because
their author was revered; and they are believed, be
cause he was thought incapable of a falsehood.
Therefore, since his lordship still lives, as an author,
there can be no breach of charity, if I present a few
reflections on him, in that capacity, and prove from
his works, that he was neither that liberal, nor can
did man whom the public partiality respects.

adversary's supporters for crowds, with more courage
than prudence have rushed forward to defend his lordship
on the lowest steps, to which, almost, it is possible for
aught like learning, or talents, or liberality, to be degraded.
I know no instances, either in ancient or modern contro
versy, in which the contrast between the contending writers
is more prominent; in which wit is more strikingly opposed
to dulness learning to inaccuracy taste to inelegance
and candor to insincerity.

198 ILLUSTRATIONS

I shall present only a few extracts from a little
work which the Doctor published several years
ago, a work, professedly, only compiled from the
writings of Archbishop Seeker, but, really, it is be
lieved, composed by himself. Not, indeed, that in
respect to the illiberally of the thing, it is material,
whether the work were composed, or only com
piled and published by Dr. P. : for it is, at least, as
illiberal to compile and publish an illiberal work, as
it is to compose one. But if it be true also, which
is suspected, that Dr. P., sensible that the work was
extremely illiberal, did not compile, but compose
it, and to screen his own illiberally gave the dis
credit of it to Archbishop Seeker, then was his
lordship doubly illiberal, illiberal for composing
the work, and perhaps most illiberal for the odious
and cowardly act of duplicity. At all events, Dr.
P. acknowledges, that he compiled, and did cer
tainly publish the little volume; and it is, of course,
as much his work, bearing his approbation, and
stamped with his sanction, as if himself had written
it. But not even is this the sole motive, why I
notice it. I notice it also, because the society
calling itself the society for the propagation of Chris
tian doctrine, but which in this instance, is not
the society for the propagation of Christian charity
animated, apparently, by the same spirit which in
spired its author, presents it almost every year to
the public in the form of a new edition, and with

TO SERMON II. J99

pious prodigality scatters it, in all the walks and
avenues of society. The work is meant to be
indeed is called an antidote against popery, and
it, really, is to the man, who has the voracity
to swallow all that it contains, an antidote with a
witness. I do not know, that like the lynx-eyed
bishop of Deny (Dr. Down) his lordship computes
our errors at the moderate, though tolerably round
number, of six hundred! (I wonder that Dr. D.
did not bring them exactly to the dreadful number
666) yet does he make them amount to a very
frightful multitude frightful for their impiety,
and disgusting for their folly. I present only a few
extracts from the work : the spirit of the writer is
as well discovered in a few lines, as in many pages.

"The popish clergy had the wickedness to sup
port transubstantiation with zeal, as an artifice that
increased the authority of the priests; for what
could not he do, who, as they blasphemously ex
press it, could make God?" (p. 38.)

"They do every thing they can to make the ig
norant believe, that indulgences deliver the depart
ed from Hell." (p. 53.)

"They always refuse to grant leave to read the
scriptures, where they dare refuse it; and when
they grant it, it is only for a time; nor dare the poor
deluded people help themselves." (p. 66.)

"This is an art (the art of confounding a plain
man in disputation) which the priests of the church

200 ILLUSTRATIONS

of Rome are well versed in. Indeed the chief part
of their learning is to puzzle themselves first, and
as many others as they can afterwards." (p. 33.)

"The strictest rules of life were laid down
(by the popish clergy) for such as thought them
selves bound to be strict; but for those who de
sired to be otherwise, superstitious observances
were allowed to take the place of real duties. With
out a zeal for such follies, the best man was reckon
ed to have but small hope of future happiness; and
with a zeal for the notions and interests of holy
church, the worst man was easily secured from fu
ture misery." (p. 55.)

Were Dr. P. still living, I would say to him as
I do say to all who resemble him in their illiberality,

C'est un mechant metier, que celui de medire.

What pity, that great talents, and great learning
are not always generous and candid! pity, for
the sake of the man w-ho possesses them ; and pity,
still more, for the sake of those who are the objects
of his displeasure : for as Boileau remarks, imme
diately after the above quotation,

Le mal qu'on dit d'autrui ne produit que du mal.

I am one of those, who with the public in gene
ral, entertain a very high opinion of Dr. P's abili
ties although they were not of the first order of
great abilities and I respect the general tenor of

TO SERMON II. 201

his character, more even, than I esteem his anili
ties. But, like many other great and good men,
he had his prejudices and partialities for these are
weeds that grow in every soil, and that insinuate
and intertwine their tendrils with the foliage, and
the flowers and the fruit of the fairest trees. I am
willing to excuse much of his partialities to his own
religion he perhaps knew little about any other,
nor conceived himself, perhaps, under any obliga
tion to acquire such knowledge. But his preju
dices against us, are, I think, inexcusable quite.
He is, in regard of popery, an illiberal, harsh,
uncandid writer a bigot. The few attestations,
which I have produced from his brief refutation, are
incontestible vouchers of the accuracy of this opi
nion. Imputing to us doctrines the most odious and
detestable, he imputes to us also which is still
more horrible the most odious and detestable mo
tives for teaching those doctrines. We, blasphe
mously, teach idolatry, and teach idolatry to in
crease our own authority! We teach, that in
dulgences deliver the dead from hell, and we teach
it, for the purpose of cheating the poor deluded
people of their money! Did his lordship only
assert, that we are idolaters, and that we teach, that
indulgences deliver the damned from hell, he
should, at least, to justify the bold assertions, have
presented something like a proof, or presumption of
their correctness. But, to assert, too, that we teach
26

202 ILLUSTRATIONS

these horrible doctrines for the worst of purposes
this, to be asserted with decency, or with justice,
should have been hung round with evidences, which
not our prejudices or partiality could have denied.
Good God! a religion enforcing idolatry to in
crease the authority of the priesthood, and recom
mending indulgences, in order to cheat the people!
I have, just now, said, that did there exist a temple
sacred to illiberality, it would be easy to find a
priesthood to minister at its altars, and I think I
may very safely add, that did there exist such a
temple, the man who, without proof , attributes such
doctrines and such motives to his fellow men,
would figure, not inconspicuously, in one of the
niches of its sanctuary.

Ah ! loin d'un cceur bien ne, 1'indigne politique

qui servile et cruelle
Au prejuges jaloux immole 1'equite.

Dr. W.

With, nearly, the whole nation, I respect the
character of Dr. W. As a writer his reputation is,
very deservedly, great as a scholar, his learning
is respectable, and as a man of talents, any tribute,
which I could pay them, would be much inferior to
the admiration which they merit. As a man I
consider Dr. W. kind, liberal, and candid as a
pastor, I conceive him tolerant and as a protes-
tant, consistent. I do, really, respect him, as a
great and amiable prelate.

TO SERMON II. 203

The works of Dr. W. I have read with consider
able pleasure. Though extremely different from
each other, they have all a share of merit, and
sometimes they rise to excellence. In some of his
charges, there is a boldness and consistency, which
you seek, in vain, in the charges of any other
member of the prelacy. Adopting the real prin
ciple of protestantism, and, apparently, emanci
pated from the control of creeds, he seems to be
lieve just what his reason dictates, and consequently,
to disbelieve, too, much of what other protestants
revere.

The praises of liberality and beneficence, the hor
ror of persecution, and the reprobation of intoler
ance are subjects which frequently occur in the series
of nearly all his lordship's publications. He, some
times, expresses his astonishment, how such a thing
as animosity can possibly steal into the writings of
sensible and candid men. " The want of genuine
moderation" he says, " towards those who differ
from us in religious opinions, seems to be the most
unaccountable thing in the world" He even pro
nounces the dreadful sentence of reprobation upon
those w r ho are guilty of it. " It is clear" he very
properly asserts in one of his charges, ''from every
page in the gospel, that we shall not merit the favor
of Christ by maltreating one another, under the
pretence of serving him"

Well; and who would not then suppose that
the man, who from character, and principle, and

204 ILLUSTRATIONS

profession, is so liberal who reprobates, so loudly,
every species of animosity and immoderation
who would not suppose that he would extend his
liberality even to the papist, and refrain, even in
his regard, from what his piety deems, every
where, so criminal? Certainly, whoever conceives
the doctor to be a completely consistent man,
would of course, expect all this. And yet is the
reverse, unhappily, the case. Not that I think
that Dr. W. would persecute us not that I think
he would not wish to see the odious restrictions
done away, which still render us the objects of
public ill will. I am sure he is an enemy to per
secution and intolerance, and would not frown on
our most complete emancipation. However, from
some cause or other either from prejudice, for
prejudice, I have just before observed, will grow
in the same mind in which humanity blooms;
or from the ignorance of our principles, -for the
ignorance of our principles is often united with the
most enlightened knowledge of other objects ; or
from a general dislike of any system which imposes
restraints upon the evagations of reason for he
has often been accused of leaning to the maxims of
latitudinarianism ; or from he treats popery with
the most marked contempt, and invokes upon it
every hateful execration which wisdom usually
teems on folly. The chief weapon with which he
combats it is ridicule. I have not by me, at pre-

TO SERMON II. 205

sent, any of the doctor's writings. I have only a
few extracts, which I find, by accident, entered
upon my papers, as a specimen of his mode of treat
ing us. The extract which I here present, is of a
piece with many others, and points out, as well as
twenty other quotations would do it, the temper, in
our regard, of the great polemic.

In one of his letters to Gibbon, citing the words
of St. Paul to Timothy, as proof that the apostles
had not predicted the early return of Christ, he
says "You have here an express prophecy in which
you may discover the erroneous tenets, or the demon
or Saint Worship of the church of Rome Through
the hypocrisy of liars, you recognize, no doubt, the
priesthood and the Martyrologists. Having their con
sciences seared with a red hot iron; callous indeed,
must be his conscience, wlw traffics in indulgences. For
bidding to marry, and commanding to abstain
from meats; this language needs no pressing, it dis
covers, at once, the unhappy votaries of monastic life,
and the mortal sin of eating Jlesh meat on fast days"

I have too high an opinion of Dr. W's judgment
to believe, that he could possibly have intended the
above glossary to be a serious elucidation of the text
of the apostle. I conceive it an attempt at wit, in
order to enliven the awful diyness of the subject
which he was discussing:

The doctor, doubtless, was in sportive fit,
And had no other play place for his wit.

206 ILLUSTRATIONS

Before I presume to make any observations on
the passage, I will here though the circumstance
should form the subject of a lengthened note- enter
my protest against the use of ridicule on so serious a
subject as religion. -Ridicule, certainly, does not
become it. It is, generally speaking, what Rous
seau calls "Za raison des sots;" and generally speak
ing, too, a concession of the weakness of the cause,
which is reduced to use it, calculated not to per
suade, but to give offence; not to amuse the wise,
but to excite disgust; it is equally repugnant to
good sense, as it is opposed to good breeding and
good taste. A great mind seldom uses it, a good
heart hardly ever: and when they use it, it is to
throw light upon the subject which they treat, never,
wantonly, to cast insult upon the men, whom they
are labouring or, at least, should labour to per
suade.

If, indeed, wisdom were common in the paths
of life, or if the great herd of our protestant coun
trymen were under the control of moderation, so
far from objecting to the use of ridicule against our
principles, or our conduct, I should on the con
trary, rejoice at the circumstance. Then, reason
ing, as wisdom and moderation reason, men would
suspect the cause and disesteem the writers, that
employed it; and, as for the catholic, so far from
respecting him the less, they would even revere him
the more. Unfortunately, however, such is not the

TO SERMON H. 207

case ; because, unfortunately for the cause of truth
and for us, neither wisdom nor moderation are
common in the walks of society, in regard of pope
ry. Hence, does the ridicule, which some writers
cast upon our religion, produce serious mischiefs to
its professors. Addressed to ignorance, to passion,
to prejudice and fanaticism, it becomes the nurse
of misconception, and the parent of animosity. It
stays multitudes from the investigation of our doc
trines, and makes some ashamed to profess them.
Ridicule is, certainly, the most powerful and the
most mischievous instrument, which the protestant
employs against us, as it is the most successful
and powerful engine that impiety uses against reve
lation. The case is, ridicule makes truth appear
absurd; and, therefore, not only undeserving notice,
but beneath notice, not only an object of dis-
esteem, but an object of contempt. I need not say
what is the effect of contempt, when thus unhap
pily generated. Its influences are even more pow
erful than dislike, than antipathy, or hatred ; for
while the mind will often reconcile itself to study,
or pursue what it dislikes, or even hates, it will
never be reconciled to investigate, or embrace what
it has been taught to believe is too foolish to merit
notice. And yet it is by ridicule unseasoned with
wit, by irony devoid of humour, by insults, which
have not the meagre merit of being satirical, that

'208 ILLUSTRATIONS

our adversaries, in general, combat popery and its
professors.

Dr. W. knows, perfectly, the tyrant power of
ridicule he knows, perfectly, that as Boileau says,

Un bon mot, en ce siecle, est un fort argument;

And, accordingly, although his talents are no
more formed for wit, than his temper is formed for
malevolence, he tries, very frequently, the pow
ers of ridicule upon the hated tenets of popery.
To wit I have even less pretensions than Dr. W.
and therefore particularly too, as I am reprobating
the use of ridicule would not attempt to cast ridi
cule upon the passage which I have just quoted from
his lordship's letters. Great wit might do it easily,
I think, with great effect. However, without
aiming cither at wit, or designing to employ ridi
cule, I will just point out how easy it is to detect
false wit, false logic, and false maxims, in the
insults of our adversaries ; and for this purpose,
pause a few moments upon the doctor's words.

Having quoted the texts of the apostle, he pro
ceeds to his glossary or elucidation of them.
" Here," he says, " you have an express pro-
prophecy :" as if prophecies were not usually express
" a prophecy, in which you discover the erro
neous tenets, and demon worship of the church of
Rome." This is, probably, the circumstance
which renders it so peculiarly express to the mind

TO SERMON II. 209

of Dr. W. it is an odious prophecy against some
body, and therefore it is an express prophecy
against the papists ; it alludes to some erroneous
tenets or other, and therefore it expressly alludes
to those of popery it attaches to heretics, who
worship demons, and, therefore, it expressly at
taches to papists, who do not worship demons.
All this, no doubt, is perfectly express, and the
penetration of Mr. Gibbon, like that of Dr. W.
" discovered it at once" although such discovery
had never been made before.

" Through the hypocrisy of liars, you recognise,
no doubt, the priestlwod and the martyrologists"
This, too, is again " express" Here, you " dis
cover no doubt :" and what? that the priesthood
and the martyrologists are hypocrites and liars.
And is not then Bishop W. a priest? Or had he
forgotten that he ought, at least, to pretend to the
honor of belonging to that sacred order? Did not
the apostles too, belong to the priesthood, and
above half those illustrious characters, who, in each
revolving age, were the ornaments of the periods,
and of the countries, in which they lived in the
earlier ages, the Chrysostoms and the Austins in
later ages, the Saleses and the Xaviers nearly
in our own age, the Fenelons an.d the Bossuets
and, but yesterday, the heroes, who, in the
French revolution, shed their blood for Jesus
Christ did not these belong to the priesthood?
27

210 ILLUSTRATIONS

As for "the martyrologists," these, too, were a
portion of the priesthood, and like it, comprehend
some of the best and greatest men who adorn the
annals of the church. And yet, are all these to
the philosophy of Dr. W. or to his system of morals,
" hypocrites and liars !" Doctor, for shame !
But the case is, the prophecy " expressly" alludes to
hypocrites and liars, and therefore, it " expressly"
alludes to papists. This, certainly, is exceedingly
express.

"Having their conscience seared ivitharedhot iron:
callous indeed, must be his conscience, who traffics in
indulgences" Is, then, the traffic in indulgences so
very cruel, and so dreadful a transaction? Surely,
an indulgence must be, of course, not what the
term itself would seem to signify an indulgence,
or a favour but a pain, or punishment. And
what is, really, an indulgence? Precisely, a re
lease from temporal pain or punishment. And the
traffic in the release from punishment requires a
callous heart. Doctor, where is your logic? But,
the apostle, once more, alludes to something odi
ous ; and therefore, he alludes to popery he al
ludes to men, whose consciences were impervious to
the influences of grace, and of course, he alludes to
papists. This is "express"

"Callous indeed must be his concience, who traf
fics in indulgencies" Admitting, that such traffic
were cruel, as the doctor makes it, yet is he correct

TO SERMON II.

in his assertion, that the papists does, really, carry it
on? For my own part, I do not believe, that in
the catholic universe there is one place where the
mart is open to so singular an article of commerce,
as what protestant writers generally mean by an in
dulgence, not one catholic individual, who ever
purchased the useful, but strange, commodity. It
is indeed, too true, that a few interested or bigoted
men have, on different occasions, abused the bene
fit of indulgences. But it is a!so true, that the
church censured the abuses true, that no catho
lic prelate carries on the iniquitous traffic true,
that no catholic divine teaches its propriety. No
matter; the prophecy applies to "hypocrites and
liars," and therefore, it applies to papists. This is
"express," this, "i/ow recognize, no doubt"

"Forbidding to marry and commanding to abstain
from meats. This language needs no pressing; it
discovers, at once, tJie unhappy votaries of monastic
life." It is here the doctor should have called the
papist "callous, and seared with a red hot iron."
Forbidding to marry ! No doubt, this is cruel, in
the extreme. And does the catholic church "for
bid to marry ?" Why, she even considers matri
mony as a sacrament. But, she forbids her priests
to marry? Yes, but then she obliges none to be
come priests. Her priests all left, completely, to
their own choice, voluntarily, after they have at
tained the age of discretion, think proper to vow

ILLUSTRATIONS

celibacy. Therefore, all that the church forbids
is merely this, that the men who have made vows,
shall not break their vows. She only enforces or
watches over the observance of this injunction of
the Almighty if any man shall make a vow to the
Lord, he shall fulfil all he had promised. (Num. xxx.
3.) Why; even the established church of this hu
mane and enlightened nation forbids many of its
members to enter into the state of matrimony.
But, the apostle speaks of heretics, who forbid the
use of marriage, and therefore, he speaks of pa
pists, who do not forbid it. "T/iis language needs
no pressing.' 1 ''

"And the mortal sinof eating flesh meat upon fast
days!" . And yet the protestant doctrine respect
ing the use of flesh meat, is precisely the same as the
catholic! Equally, with the catholic, the protestant
conceives, that in conformity with the injunctions
of our great Redeemer, mortification should con
stitute a part of the Christian character and morti
fication, lie again conceives in conformity to the
example of his sacred model, of his apostles, and
the saints, is cultivated by the observance of absti
nence and fasting. Hence, does the Common Prayer
Book and the Book of Homilies, ordain and re
commend abstinence and fasting, precisely in the
same manner, and even upon the same days pre
cisely with the catholic church. Therefore, if the
protestant consider the ordinances of the protestant

TO SERMON II. 213

church equally binding as the catholic considers
the injunctions of the catholic church, then is he
equally bound, as is the catholic, to abstain from the
use of flesh meat ; and if the violation of the laws of
his church be, really, " a mortal sin," then too,
if he eat it on a fast-day, he is, like the catholic,
guilty of a mortal sin. In both cases, the sin is
merely the act of disobedience, and the want of
mortification. As for the flesh meat itself, the ca
tholic considers it just as harmless upon one day, as
upon another. He eats it five days in the week ;
he eats it when sick every day ; and every day the
church allows it, when the health of an individual
makes it necessary. The only difference, which I
know, between the protestant and the papist, in
regard of flesh meat, is this, that while both profess
exactly the same doctrines, the papist observes what
he professes, the protestant does not. But in short,
and this is the last instance, which I shall give of
Dr. W.'s logic, the apostle refers to men, who
considered flesh meat as sinful, and proceeding
from the evil principle ; the catholic considers it as
completely inoffensive and the gift of the divine be
neficence, and therefore, the doctor concludes the
apostle refers to catholics: he speaks of here
tics, who taught doctrines directly opposed to those
of catholics, and therefore, he speaks of catholics.
" This language needs no pressing" No, certainly,
the prophecy is perfectly " express" and its appli-

214 ILLUSTRATIONS

cation to the doctrines of popery, to which it has
no relation whatever, is just as express, as the pro
phecy itself.

I will conclude, with merely this piece of advice
to Dr. W.

. . Tolle jocos, non est jocus esse malignum,
Nunquam sunt grati, qui nocure sales.

There is, too, an old French proverb, which
though by no means verified in Dr. W. is very
generally found correct ; diseur de bans mots, mau-
vais caractere. The man, generally speaking, who
will sport with truth, or with the reputation of his
neighbour, for the pleasure of appearing witty, is
an odious character. From this imputation, I,
from my heart, absolve Dr. W. Only, I recom
mend the proverb to his observation. And I re
commend to him, too, when next he gratifies the
public with his writings, that should aught induce
him to speak of popery, he would substitute reason
in the room of wit, and liberality and candor in the
place of prejudice and derision. I recommend to
him, before he next attacks our doctrines, to learn
what our doctrines are. The consequence will be,
that he will speak of them, if not with veneration,
at least with civility and respect

TO SERMON II. 215

Dr. P. (now Dr. I.)

The Theological Elements of Dr. P. particularly
the first volume, have considerable claims to the
public esteem. On the subject of popery, they are
less intemperate far, than many other publications.
I dare say, their author is less illiberal than the gene
rality of his associates in the sacred ministry. Still,
there are in his elements some shades of prejudice
on the subject of popery, some occasional ex
pressions of ill-will, a few strokes of satire, and
accidental misrepresentations, which do not entire
ly accord either with the character and idea of the
completely liberal man, or with the reputation and
notion of the perfectly learned and candid scholar.
To give merely one or two specimens of these,
only occasional, inadvertencies: "The popes" he
says (vol. 2d) "did not scruple to call indulgences
a plenary remission of all sins, past, present, and
future."

"In process of time, tJie clergy gained such an
ascendancy over the minds of the people, as to
persuade them it was their duty to confess all
their sins to a priest; and then, to give a greater
sanction to this delusion, they called it a sacrament"

"They (the catholics) contend, that the mere
receiving the Lord^s supper procures remission of
sins, as it were, mechanically, whatever may lie the
character and disposition of the communicant" (voL
M.)

ILLUSTRATIONS

" Ordination was raised to a sacrament, for the
purpose of raising tJw importance of the clerical cha
racter in the eyes of tJie people, and of promoting the
influence of the Roman Pontiffs" (vol. 2d.)

On the subject of our tenets respecting images
and relics, the doctor asserts, with all the intre
pidity of ignorance for I suppose it ignorance only
that the worship of tJie former is one of our esta
blished doctrines, and that tJie absolute worship of the
latter is preached by the church as a Christian duty,
and autJiorized by the council of Trent.

THE LATE DR. KURD.

I offer the same apology for impeaching the
liberality of this illustrious character, which I did
for censuring that of the late Dr. P. His works
still live ; and, like those of Dr. P. live to attest,
that great minds have often great prejudices, and
great weaknesses. Doctor H., with all his good
nature, frequently derides popery; and with all
his learning, often misrepresents it. I present only
two quotations from his learned Introduction to the
Prophecies which, I suspect, was a most powerful
recommendation to his Introduction to a bishopric.

The church of Rome applies to the saints, direct
ly, as saviours; for their proper and immediate
help, and expects it, from the supposed privileges of
tJicir rank and mcrits,indepcndently of their prayers."
"These prayers" the good man adds, "are prc-

TO SERMON II.

fejred ivith all the circumstances and formalities of
divine ivorship" And hence, he infers, by a con
clusion, which is perfectly correct, if his premises
were so too, that "the catJiolic mode of intercession
is unchristian and idolatrous"

On the subject of the papal Antichrist, if Dr. H.
really believed what he has written, he possessed
the most anile credulity if he disbelieved it, he
possessed the most unpardonable illiberality. On
this odious^ subject, having with infinite industry
first raked together, and then disposed in formida
ble array all the nonsense which Mede and New
ton, &c. &c. had collected and combined, in order
to prove that the popes are Antichrist he thus
concludes for, it would be endless to quote his
proofs that his arguments "furnish, if not an AB
SOLUTE DEMONSTRATION, at least a high degree of
probability, that apostate Papal Rome is tJie VERY
antichrist foretold."

Thus, without selecting my vouchers from the
least learned, or the least respectable members of
the clergy but on the contrary, from those who
possess the largest share of the public veneration
I have proved, I think, what I had advanced in
the preface of this illustration that the most en
lightened portion of this nation, and which from re
ligious principles, should be also the most liberal, is
illiberal in regard of catholics. I close my note with
merely this prayer: May the auspicious day soon
28

218 ILLUSTRATIONS

beam upon us, which may put an end to this war
of insult upon truth and charity a war, which no
hostility in the catholic, but mere misconception
in the protestant provokes^bellum sine Iwste a war,
which presents no well-earned laurel to the com
batant.

Let us, now, no more contend, nor blame
Each other; blam'd enough elsewhere; but strive
In offices of love, how we may lighten
Each other's evils, in our share of woe.

(B) PAGE 32.

Illiberality of protestant writers.

After the proofs, which I produced in the pre
ceding illustration, that even the best educated and
the most respectable members of the prelacy are, in
their writings, guilty of gross illiberality, on the
subject of popery it should hardly appear necessa
ry for me to shew, that the same kind of illiberali
ty and often, indeed, much grosser pervades the
compositions of the subordinate clergy, and after
them, of every other class of writers, from the
angry polemic, down to the meanest poetaster
through the medium of historians, geographers,
travellers, pamphleteers, and the paltry scribblers of
novels and romances. With very few exceptions,

TO SERMON II.

whatever be the object of any work, if by design
or accident, it introduces the subject of popery and
the papist, it is to misrepresent or vilify them. The
thing is so notorious, that I entertain no apprehen
sion of being contradicted in the assertion, by who
ever is but tolerably conversant in English literature.
Among our writers to insult popery is a matter of
course; c'est la fable convenue.

It would, consequently, be useless to crowd the
pages of this illustration with the evidences of this
illiberally; as too it would be almost equally use
less to swell it with censures or reflections upon the
generality of the writers, who are guilty of it. The
generality of them consists of men without the
slightest pretensions to erudition, and with very
slight pretensions to talents, who knowing that the
public taste is best gratified, on the subject of po
pery, with lies and nonsense, write to gratify (he
public taste in order, as a means of securing ap
probation, and for the more substantial purposes of
profit, to give circulation to their works. I will
not attempt to class this host of scribblers. Very
large portions of them, if reduced to classes, would
consist of witlings and buffoons, but the largest
if they really believe all that they assert of fools,
and dunces. Contempt is the proper feeling for
such writers, as silence is the proper answer to their
writings.

For who would break a fly upon a wheel?

220 ILLUSTRATIONS

But, amid this multitude of our adversaries,
were I to assert, that all merit the reproach of pos
sessing slender talents or trifling erudition, I should
be very incorrect indeed. Among them, there are
men who possess talents and erudition, that are
measured to the extent, almost, and greatness of
every subject acuteness to discern with precision,
judgment to reason with accuracy, and all the
riches of learning to adorn the subjects which they
treat. To these acquirements, too, they add the
kind of eloquence, which is calculated to persuade,
and the charms of language, which give to persua
sion fresh conviction. Enemies such as these
and we have such enemies are formidable, if mis
chievously employed in exerting the influence of
their great acquirements in keeping alive the pub
lic prejudices against us. We own this evil, and la
ment the injuries, which it, eventually, has pro
duced. Still, it is not the influence of the great
mental and literary acquirements of these gentle
men, exerted even to their utmost bearings, that
we, principally, apprehend it is the influences of
these, not as it results from these, but as it results
from the features of their private, or the splendor
of their public characters. It is the men, more than
the writers, that we dread- -the amiable qualities,
which eminently distinguish some of them. Their
generosity and affibility in private life, and their

TO SERMON II.

modesty and moral virtues in public life, give, far
more, than their learning and abilities, a sanction
to what they write, and insure belief to what they
preach. By these they accredit their falsehood re
specting popery, and the nonsense and illiberally,
which they prodigally teem out upon its professors.
The author and the preacher are believed on ac
count of the real or supposed virtues of the man :
and the public cheated by his authority, piously
conceiving, that he is incapable of asserting what
is false, or of encouraging animosity without a
cause, with stupid credulity, believes, upon his
attestation, the veriest fictions ; and warmed by his
indignation, with sanctified animosity, entertains the
most uncharitable antipathies.

For, in reality, although I have given to this class
of our antagonists learning and great abilities,
yet it is not upon the question of our religion, that
they display them wisely. Dupes, nearly all of
them, either to the prejudices which they had in
their childhood, imbibed from their nurses, or to the
prejudices and interests of their subsequent educa
tion and pursuits, they possess to judge from their
works as false and imperfect notions of our re
ligion, as the most ignorant; and like the most
ignorant, combat our religion in a manner the
most illiberal. I refer the reader to their works
and discourses. Let him consult, in either of them,
the description of our religion. Nothing can be

ILLUSTRATIONS

more false and incorrect. Our religion, there, is
the creature of their own fancies a visionary thing
made up of errors, which we reprobate, of max
ims, which we abhor, and of abuses, which we
condemn. Of these, they compose a hideous
spectre, which, with "asservation blustering in
their face," they solemnly declare the catholic
adores: and against this, with pious consistency,
they hurl all the indignation of their eloquence.
It would not be an apt comparison, if I were to
compare these gentlemen to the ancient sorcerers,
whom our historians represent animated with an
ger, and seeking to take vengeance on their ene
mies. These men, they tell us, used to make up
a horrible figure in wax of the person who either
had offended them, or whom, for any other cause,
they wished to injure or destroy. Having com
pleted it, they then, amidst frightful incantations,
curses and execrations, mutilated, or inflicted the
deepest wounds upon it, conceiving that each
mutilation or wound inflicted upon the image, fell
really upon the person whom the image repre
sented. It is well that all the enemies of popery
are not great conjurors. But such, precisely, is
the manner in which they treat us. Dressing up
a grotesque figure, distorted and ludicrous in every
feature, they teem upon it all the malevolence of
their prejudices, and wantonly stabbing it, flatter
themselves in their folly, that they have given a

TO SERMON II. 003

wound to catholicity itself. Absurd magicians!
Would only the vulgar had eyes to discover the
absurdity ! Neither the phantom resembles our
religion, nor dw the wounds which they inflict
upon it, reach our religion. They do, indeed, a
serious injury, sometimes, to its professors, because
they deprive us, sometimes, of that respect which
is due to us as citizens, and contribute to withhold
from us those rights, which are equally due to us.
as subjects. Had the protestant, who has suffered
his reason to be scared by these monstrous exhibi
tions, but the wisdom to doubt of their reality, or
the courage to strip them of their visor, not only
would he blush at his own weakness, for having
been terrified without a cause, he would loudly
censure the men who had cheated him into the
preposterous apprehension. Let me then just se
riously caution the protestant not to judge of our
religion by the portraits which he finds given of
it by protestant writers. Their descriptions are
caricatures.

DOCTOR RENNEL.

If I were asked, to whom I would give the ex
alted pre-eminence of insulting popery, with most
effect, I should not have much hesitation in saying,
it is Dr. R. I think him the spirit, which, in the
lower regions at least, has guided and given direc-

224 ILLUSTRATIONS

tions to the storms and whirlwinds, which have as
sailed us in the roughest manner. Possessed of many
of those influences, which give effect to talents, and
of talents, which give effect to ze&'l, he employs
these with w^anton animosity against us. I shall not
attempt to give the portrait of Dr. R. He is ad-
mtted by nearly all the the admirers of learning ; and
his works have been read by nearly all the lovers of
eloquence. It would hardly be a sufficient tribute
to his erudition, if I were to say of him,

Rhetora, grammaticum, polyhistora, teque poetam !
Qui ncgat, is lippus, luscus, obesus, iners.

As for his knowledge of the languages, the
Pursuits of Literature (if they be his) must appear
to the vulgar, the greatest proof almost of extraor
dinary proficiency, and to the pedant the most
luxurious treat which a century has supplied.

He Greek and Latin writes with greater ease,
Than hogs eat acorns, and tame pigeons pease.

HUD.

But it is his eloquence which I most admire,
and which alone the catholic has reason to appre
hend. The doctor is certainly eloquent. There
are passages in his discourses, which not my pre
judice nor hostility if I had any against the man
would hinder me from admiring in the writer.

TO SERMON 11. 225

It is not mine to guess, much less to pretend to
say, what may have been the motive time will
unfold that mystery why the doctor has, for
some years past, aimed the chief thunder of his
eloquence at popery. There was a time, when
equally well informed respecting our religion as
he is at present, he not only entertained a great
Veneration for it, but excited by the publicity of
his veneration, the censure of the protestant public.
Of late, not only has this veneration vanished, but
it has been superseded by a measure of animosity,
unequalled almost in the annals of modern violence.
A complete convert from the esteem for popery, to
the warmer esteem, I suppose, of protestantism, he
appears now, in regard of the former

A man, whose chief devotion lies,

In odd, perverse antipathies.

His head brim full of fears and fictions,

His conscience formed of contradictions.

Most certainly, if the severity of censure and the
intemperance of the abuse of popery be designed as
an atonement of his former respect for it, he has
expiated his error "with a witness." I shall give
only an extract or two from his discourses. The
passages in the Pursuits of Literature, which regard
us, although they cede not in illiberality to many
which occur in the discourses, are yet inferior to
them in energy and point. They are rather petu-
29

226 ILLUSTRATIONS

lant than energetic; and peevish, rather than
pointed. They are sometimes even trifling, puerile,
and laughable, monuments which do no credit to
his wisdom, his learning, his ability, or his heart.

Speaking of the introduction of the reformation,
he says, "When Almighty God in the depth of
his merciful decrees, was pleased to dissipate the
long dark night of papal superstition; to burst
those bonds of cruelty, persecution, ignorance, and
superstition, which had, for a long succession of
ages triumphed over learning, piety, and even the
common feelings of natural humanity he gifted
his chosen instruments, Luther and Calvin, with
qualities proportioned to' 'the high task assigned
them."

"It was," he says, "the cruelty, absurdity, bigot
ry, and wide extent of popery, that generated the
atheism, to which it is, constantly, allied, and per
fectly congenial."

DR. ZOUCH.

Dr. Z. is very well known in the walks of lite
rature, although he is not considered as a very dis
tinguished ornament of those walks. His first en
trance into them was in the capacity of interpreter
of the prophets or rather, in the double capacity
of interpreter of the prophets, and sometimes of a
prophet himself. Animated probably by a zeal
for protestantism (and possibly by the zeal for somc-

TO SERMON II. 227

thing else,) and conceiving, as he tells us, '-'that
protestantism receives its strongest support, or ratJier
derives its original foundation from the prophecies
concerning antichrist" he with great heroism mar
shals in formidable array, the long dreadful series
of proofs, which a host of bigots had, before, em
ployed, to make it evident, that "our popes are
antichrist, and that popery is the antichristian su
perstition pointed out by the sacred writers." From
a mind like the Doctor's, warmed with the love of
protestantism, and convinced that protestantism re
ceives its '''best support" from the proofs of these
two frightful, but important, theses, it is easy to
imagine, what must be the industry of his ingenuity
in establishing them, and what the fire and indig
nation of his zeal in reprobating the odious system,
which he combats. I will merely say, that his
work is an excellent attestation of that illiberality,
which I have attributed to protestant writers. (Let
it here be recollected, that I am speaking only of
the illiberality of the writer; for in all the transac
tions of private life, I believe, that Dr. Z. is a very
liberal and amiable man.

From the specimen which I here present of the
doctor's interpretation of the law of charity in our
regard, the reader may judge what must be his
sentiments and language, when he feels and speaks
of popery and of papists, in his anger. " Willwut
violating" kind, gentle man! ''without violating

228 ILLUSTRATIONS

the laws of charity, a serious protestant MUST?
he says, "consider the members of the church of
Rome- as professors of a religion perfectly abhorrent
from tlie purity of the gospel; as involved in idola
trous and superstitious practices; as men who have
not repented of the works of tlieir hands, that they
should not worship devils and idols of gold, and sil
ver, and brass, and stone, and wood; neither repent
ed tliey of their murders, nor of their sorceries, nor
of tlieir fornication, nor of their thefts"

The following extracts may serve as illustrations
of the doctor's various acquirements of his learn
ing; tJie cross is an object of adoration, and is peti
tioned to give increase of grace to the righteous and
pardon to the guilty:" of his piety "when I see a
devotee bending the knee, uplifting the hands and
eyes before the figure of the cross, and before the
figure of a female trampling a }ialf moon under her
feet, I turn from ilw sight with trepidation and hor
ror;" of his charity, learning, piety, and candor
all together " Whilst we see the present people of
Rome, worshipping, this day, in tJie same temples, at
tJie same altars, sometimes the same images, and al
ways ivith the same ceremonies, as the old Romans,
they must have more charity, as well as skill, in dis
tinguishing than I pretend to, who can absolve them
from the same crime of superstition and idolatry, with
tJmr pagan ancestors"

But, as it would far exceed the limits which I
have marked out for these illustrations, to accom-

TO SERMON II. 209

pany my extracts with reflections,! shall only hence
forth present, without any comment or observation,
a few quotations from the works of a small number
of other writers, who have acquired a considerable
degree of reputation in the walks of life a reputa
tion, which, although they be men of abilities, they
owe less to their abilities than to their violence, and
less to the merits of their writings than to the pub
lic prejudice. A sentence or two from each of
them will point out the spirit of the writers, as well,
I have observed before, as a multiplicity of para
graphs.

DEAN SPARKE.

" While the papists look upon all those as here
tics, and devoted to eternal torments, who are not
within the pale of their church while they arro
gate to themselves an universal dominion even over
potentates themselves while they publicly profess
that no faith should be kept with heretics while
we see all these horrible tenets have proceeded and
still proceed from that antichrist, what dangers
ought we to believe hang over us, if we allow the
papists any participation in the government ?"

Sermon preached at the, Synod of Canterbury : an. 1807.

JORTIN.

" It should seem impossible for a man of letters,
a man versed in ecclesiastical history, and in the

230 ILLUSTRATIONS

scriptures, a man of probity, and good sense to
admit the pope's spiritual supremacy, the celebra
tion of the eucharist in one kind, transubstantia-
tion, celibacy imposed upon the clergy, the wor
ship of images and reliques, the miracles ascribed
to impostors, fanatics and lunatics, and a multitude
of other things so contrary to religion and common
sense." Rem. on Eccl. Hist. But, let the reader
consult his sermons. The above sentences are all
mildness compared to what he, there, incessantly
and emphatically asserts.*

WRANGHAM.

" Rome is fallen. I rejoice to see the sovereign
pontiff, who once trod upon the neck of royalty,
crouching himself beneath the insolent foot of a fe
rocious and implacable republic. . . I spare you the
afflictive recital of their massacres and their inquisi
tions, their dispensing with the performance of indis-
pensible duties, and their selling pardons for unpar
donable crimes. I stop not to inveigh against their
doctrines of devils, and their assumption of more
than human powers. . . I quit the contemplatfti
of this combination of hypocrisy and superstition,
of idolatry and blasphemy." Visitation sermon.

* Of Jortin, Dr. Parr says, " He seems to consider any
improvement in the sentiments of catholics, as a moral im
possibility, and any relaxation of the laws enacted against
them in this country as a dangerous experiment.

TO SERMON II.

LE MESURIER.

" The truth isthe distinguishing part of the
Romish religion is such an insult upon common
sense, that it will not bear examination. The
members of that communion are forbidden to
think or speak of their faith, but as they are com
manded. Tied down to the weak and beggarly
elements, a Roman catholic has neither inclination
nor capacity for the pure worship of the spirit. To
him religion always appears in the garb of slavery,
and he naturally feels the wish to get rid of the
shackles which she imposes on him; but wordly
considerations or prejudices interpose. . . To grant
them what they call emancipation would be, in
feet, only to rivet the fetters of the laity: it would
be to encourage ignorance, and extend the reign
of superstition, of infidelity, and of immorality."
Sequel of the Serious Examin.

DR. WHITAKER.

"They (the Waldenses, &c.) were compelled
to separate from the Church of Rome, because it
was idolatrous. Every clear-headed peasant could
understand the absurdity of transubstantiation, and
every one who had learned the commandments,
knew what to think of the worship of images."
Sermon preached at Salisbury^ an. 180'.

ILLUSTRATIONS

DR. KIPLING.

"Ask one of this species of beings why he
believes trans instantiation, his reply will be, "I
believe this, BECAUSE it is impossible." Impossi
bility is no obstacle to his faith. On the contrary,
to believe what is impossible, he judges to be an
act of superlative faith and piety, and to disbelieve
it because it is impossible, would be in his opinion
impiously to question the omnipotence of the Deity."
Examination of certain accusations brought recent
ly by Irish papists, fyc. 1809.

The above, though few, are sufficient proofs
or specimens of the temper of the gentlemen whom
I have cited, in their delineations of popery. The
reader will have remarked, that so far from having
selected them from the writings of men of no cha
racter, or reputation, so far from having culled
them from works, which the public contempt has,
long since, consigned to oblivion and the worms,
I have on the contrary, extracted all of them from
the works of men, whose literary and moral cha
racters are, if not distinguished, at least deservedly
respectable in society. But, not only are the
above extracts the attestations of the temper of
the writers who composed them, they are speci
mens also of the similar temper which pervades
and animates the writings and discourses of the

TO SERMON II. 233

whole host of equally respectable characters that
combat popery.* Sorry I am to say it with very
trifling differences of shade and difference of vio
lence, this host of men are all alike all illiberal,
apparently ignorant of our principles, uncandid
and intemperate. I will not present any quotations
to prove the spirit and temper of the less respectable
portions of the protestant community of the more
ignorant yet, and more unpolished. I shall not be
accused of deducing an imlogical inference, if I
say, that if the former are so grossly illiberal, the
latter are, at least, equally illiberal. The fact is,
they are equally illiberal, but their illiberality is so
coarse, so vulgar, so extremely illiberal, that I
will not stain the pages of this illustration with the
foul attestations of it.

Keen is the war, where dulness draws the sword.

* Stern used to call the abuse of popery his Chesire Cheese.
"Just," he said, "as when we have little to eat, or little to
give away, I have always recourse to ray Chesire Cheese,
just so do I act, when 1 have little to say, or little to
give my people / have recourse to the abuse of popery.
Hence, I call it my Chsire Cheese. It has a two-fold ad
vantage; it costs me very little, and I find, by experience,
that nothing satisfies so well the hungry appetites of my
congregation. They always devour it greedily, and return
home gratified with the repast, and extolling the liberality
of the donor!"

30

Q34 ILLUSTRATIONS

To the writers then, whom I have quoted, and
to all those who imitate them in the illiberality of
their works or sermons, I will just take the liberty
to say: G entlemen, we do not blame you for the
zeal with which you defend the religion that you
profess we do not even blame you for attacking
ours. So far from reproaching you, for the se
verity with which you, censure the real abuses, the
scandals, or superstitions, which may have stolen
into our great establishment, we thank you for
your zeal in doing it, because it is our wish, as it
is evidently the wish of religion, that these evils
should be corrected. We do not deny the ex
istence of abuses in our church, we do not even
deny that abuses are not common; because where
weakness and vice are common, abuses follow
them, as their too easy and too natural appendages.
Therefore, again, censure these, and display
against them, if you please, all the energies of your
eloquence. It is employing eloquence nobly
it is doing what we ourselves do frequently, and
what the spirit of our church desires, We most
cordially wish that success may await your efforts,
and that the exertions of your industry may have
the happy effect of scaring vice from the haunts of
our society, and making the bigot, and the fanatic,
and the superstitious, ashamed of their excesses.
But, it is here that we blame you we blame you,
that not distinguishing our religion from its abuses,

TO SERMON II.

nor the approved practices of the church from the-
extravagances of a few individuals^ you attribute
to our religion what she equally reprobates with
you, and to the church what forms the subject of
her incessant censures: we blame you for your ex
treme ignorance of our tenets, for the infidelity of
your imputations, for the illiberality of your re
proaches, and for the immoderation of your insults.
The assertion is not a hazarded one in all these
points, you violate, in our regard, the laws of
justice and decorum.

Whoever undertakes to direct the opinion of
the public, and to censure the principles of any
portion of society, is bound in decency, as well as
justice, to understand the principles which he con
demns, and to be assured too that they are really
the principles of the men to whom he imputes
them. You are the directors of the public opinion
in regard of our religion ; and, therefore, it is evi
dently your duty, before you reprobate it, to know
the doctrines which it teaches. Knowledge is
the basis of all equitable censure, and even of
all wise opinion. And deciding upon the equity
and wisdom of your censures and opinion of our
religion, from the knowledge which you possess,
or seem to possess of it in your writings and dis
courses, I have no hesitation in saying, that you
are ignorant I could almost say childishly igno
rant of its doctrines. Not giving yourselves the

236 ILLUSTRATIONS

trouble to study it, in the mediums where alone it
is accurately described in catholic writers you
study it in the angry and prejudiced productions
of its enemies of men, who like yourselves, either
knew it not, or misrepresented it. The conse
quence is, that you do not know it and the con
sequence of your ignorance is, that you represent
it incorrectly. Your representations of it are no
more its real portrait, than the representation of a
monster is the portrait of beauty. As exhibited by
you, our religion is indeed, a monster : but,
happily, a monster existing only in your own pre
judices, and in the illusions of your own imagina
tions.

The next quality which equity and wisdom re
quire in religious writers, after knowing well the
principles which they treat is, that they judge of
them without partiality, and discuss them without
passion. Animated merely by the desire and love
of truth, the virtuous man carries with him into
its investigation that kind of spirit, which alone is
congenial to the nature of truth coolness, im
partiality, and piety; and having by these me
thods ascertained, or supposed that he has ascer
tained, its possession, he still animated by the
same impulse which had led him to its investigation
explains it with mildness, sincerity, and bene
volence. Nothing certainly, is more repugnant to
the maxims of religion, than prejudice in its in-

TO SERMON II. 237

vestigation, and passion in its discussion. And,
yet again again grounding my assertion upon the
attestation of your writings it is true, that as you
are ignorant of our religion, so do you investigate
it under the influences of prejudice, and discuss it
with intemperance. In the annals of prejudice and
intemperance, there is, hardly, aught more illibe
ral and violent, than your invectives against po
pery. Yes, and suppose even that it were true,
that you alone are the exclusive proprietors of the
truth were it true that popery is the absurd object,
or the papist the idolatrous being that you make
him, yet would not even this suffice to justify the
intemperance with which you treat them. As for
the absurdities which we profess, or the idolatry
which we cultivate -did we profess or cultivate
either these would be injurious to ourselves alone,
or alone be displeasing to the God of truth : and,
therefore, it is religion alone, and the God of
truth, that have reason to be offended with us.
And you, of course, if you be the agents of reli
gion, and the representatives of the God of truth,
you should, in those capacities, reproach us, or
instruct us, or enlighten us, in the temper of re
ligion, and in the spirit of truth in charity, wis
dom, and benevolence. It is true, there is a
warmth, there is even a virtuous indignation, some
times, in religious zeal; but then these are always
regulated by the rules of truth and the laws of

238 ILLUSTRATIONS

charity. Be therefore warm and indignant as you
please, only be warm and indignant with know
ledge, with candor, with temperance, and justice,
It is not warmth, but the injustice of warmth that
we shrink from. Hence, instructed in the first
place, in our tenets, before you presume to instruct
the public, and fired with zeal enkindled at the
altar of charity, hold out to us the torch of evi
dence, and the attestations of wisdom; and press
these, calmly and candidly, upon our reason. It is
thus you will best defend the cause of religion
best convince the catholic, if he is to be convinced
of the errors of catholicity ; and best enlighten the
protestant, if he is to be enlightened of the truth of
protestantism. Insult can but serve to alienate the
affections of the catholic, when it injures; and
should serve to convince the protestant of the bad
ness of the cause, which needs so bad an auxiliary
for its support.

To my countrymen in general, who borrow their
ideas of popery from the writings and discourses of
their protestant pastors, I could say much upon the
subject of their credulity and prejudices. But, I
will merely say to them : believe them not. In
believing them, you become the dupes of men,
who themselves are the dupes of ignorance, or
passion, or bigotry, or interest. Their portraits
of our religion are false. Or if indeed you will
believe them, let it be as justice bids you, in every

TO SERMON II. 239

other case of impeachment, let it be, after you
have confronted the accusers with the accused, and
prudently ascertained that their assertions repose, if
not on truth, at least on probability. Beware too
-and this is another maxim which your good
sense observes in the ordinary transactions of life
beware of violence and insult. Truth needs them
not, and religion reprobates them. It would be
wise to suspect the veracity of the men who employ
them. But should you wish, really, to know our
religion, it is and the thing is natural -from
catholic writers you must derive that knowledge.
As they know it best, they best explain its doc
trines; and, surely, were it only to ascertain whe
ther they be those blasphemous, idolatrous, and
horrid things, which you are taught to consider
them, even your curiosity should urge you to such
investigation. At all events, whether you consult
catholic or protestant writers concerning catholic
tenets, let candor, and charity, and liberality be
your guides. In the formation too of any judg
ment of our religion, take always this precaution
with you to distinguish between what constitutes
a part of the religion, and what is only an acci
dental appendage to it between its abuses and the
practices which it approves. And remember well,
that what forms our religion, is our tenets. Should
your wisdom conduct the investigation of our re
ligion upon these principles, you would soon be

^240 ILLUSTRATIONS

induced to conclude, that it is, indeed, an ex
tremely different object from what your credulity
had conceived it, and that the men, whose violence
and misrepresentations had seduced your reason to
believe their falsehoods, are but literary gladiators
attempting to assassinate it, or religious caricaturists
distorting its beauteous features.

(C) PAGE 35*

The English chwrch differs from all other reformed
churches.

" Our articles and liturgy," says Dr. Pretyman.
(now Tomlin) " do not correspond with the senti
ments of any of the reformers upon the continent,
or with the creeds of any of the protestant churches
which are there established. Our church is not
Lutheran it is not Calvanistic it is not Arminian
it is scriptural."

Charge to Uie clergy of Lincoln, 1803.

I will not here suggest to the reason of the rea
der, the reflections which the above passage is cal
culated to excite, nor will I, as the advocate of
the insulted Lutherans, Calvinists, and Arminians,
present any serious expostulation on its import.

Tiie English church" his lordship says, " &
scriptural;" as if the Lutheran, Calvinistic, and

TO SERMON II.

Arminian churches did not, equally, call them
selves " scriptural ;" and as if they had not the
same claims to that important title. It is the very-
claim on which they all establish, as they imagirte,
the supposed divinity of their respective institutions.
" The English church is scriptural ;" of course,
according to his lordship's logic, or his lordship's
theology, the English church is, alone, the true
church; it alone is the catholic, or universal church.
If it be alone the true church, what a world of un
fortunate beings do his orthodoxy and his charity
exclude from its sacred pale; and consequently, from
the seats of future happiness ! If it be alone the uni
versal church, to what a frightful narrow compass
does he reduce or contract it ! The universal church
reduced to the "scriptural" establishment of this
little island ! And, as only a certain portion of its in
habitants belong to this " scriptural" establish
ment, the universal church reduced to a small
portion of the few inhabitants of a little island

(D) PAGE 35.

The disunity of the protestant church.

The following outlines of the confusion which
grew out of the principles of protestantism, are
taken from the work of one of the warmest ad-
31

ILLUSTRATIONS

mirers and most zealous defenders of that heresy
the celebrated Ecclesiastical and Political History
of Hornius. It is indeed a mere etching of this con
fusion., presenting very imperfectly, the scene of
crimes, horrors, disorders, and divisions, which
resulted from the reformation. However, imper
fect as it is, yet is it such -so striking in every
feature of deformity that I wonder how the man
who drew it, could possibly induce his reason to
believe, that the principles which created it, could
really be divine. Piety, I am sure, contemplating
it, will reprobate its cause with indignation ; and
wisdom reject, as pernicious, the maxims, which
#re fraught with the elements of so much mischief.
"Luther," says Hornius, "having established
the right which each individual possesses of inter
preting the sacred scriptures, asserted, too, that
assisted by the light of heaven, he possessed also the
privilege of affixing to them their true interpreta
tion. Admitting with Luther, at least, the former
of these principles, Zuinglius presents himself ; but
boldly declares, that not Luther, but He and
long before Luther, likewise had found out their
.genuine interpretation. Here, Carlostad comes
forth, and with equal intrepidity, proclaims, that
he has made a more accurate discovery of their
real signfication, than either of the above apostles;
and instantly, in defiance of his master's authority,
breaks in pieces the images which he found in the

TO SERMON IT 243;

churches at Wittcmbcrg, and excites great com
motions in that city. Not long after this, these
three leaders of the reformation commenced their
dispute respecting the Holy Eucharist a dispute,
in which were often blended circumstances the most
ludicrous, with acts of violence the most atrocious.
The champions on each side drew after them,
each an immense multitude of followers, in diffe
rent kingdoms, provinces, and districts, just as the
pretended evidence of the sense of the scriptures,
or their pretended inspiration, actuated them; or
rather, just as their ignorance and their passions y
which were under the control of the passions of
their leaders, conducted them."

"During the contestation between Luther, Zu-
inglius, and Carlostadius, a Silesian gentleman of
the name of Schwenckfeld, discovered another inter
pretation of the words this is my body, extremely dif
ferent, both from that of Luther, and from that of his
two antagonists. He maintained, that the word this
expresses not elemental, but purely spiritual bread
and wine; and proceeding from error to error,
contended, soon, that the letter of the scripture is
useless, and that all exterior ministry in the church
is superfluous." Schwenckfeld drew after him a
great multitude of partizans, whose descendants,
still numerous, subsist unmolested in some of the
villages of Silesia, at the present day.

244 ILLUSTRATIONS

"Beginning with the same maxims as the first
reformers, and raising upon them the fabric of
their singular institution, Stork and Minister, both
of them the disciples, and the latter the great fa
vourite of Luther, began, about the same period,
to teach a variety of tenets, that were contrary to
those of their master. The most prominent of
these tenets were the necessity of re-baptizing all
those who had been baptized in their infancy, and
the establishment of a new kingdom foretold in the
apocalypse, which was destined to last a thousand
years and to begin from themselves. Fired with
the ambition and necessity of forming and complet
ing this new empire, they taught that it was pro
per, pious, and even necessary, to depose or mur
der all princes and magistrates, who ventured to
oppose its establishment. Munster assured his
followers, that God had given him, in a vision,
the sword of Gideon, and even commissioned
the Archangel Michael to assist him. Suffice it
to say, that soon, above 100,000 deluded crea
tures believed and followed the impostor, upwards
of 50,000 of whom perished in the field, the vic
tims to his ambition, and the dupes of their own
imbecility. The greater part of them fell, without
either fighting, or attempting to rim away, con
vinced, as Munster had promised them, either
that he would stop the balls in the foldings of his
robe, or catch them so, that no one should be
wounded."

TO SERMON II. 245

"After the death of Minister, who met with
the fate his crimes had merited, his sect, so far
from decreasing, continued to multiply, and count
ed an immense herd of adherents, in every country
where the seeds of the reformation had been sown.
He had several successors, some of them as ambi
tious, and many of them as fanatic, as himself
'Rotman, Knipperdoling, Matthew, John of Ley-
den, who from a tailor was raised to the dignity,
or at least proclaimed, the Universal Monarch of
(he Earth; and who breathing nothing but in
spiration, spread round him nothing but murder
and devastation. Happily, however, the dreadful
power which these men possessed, and the more
dreadful effects which it produced, were but tran
sient. The states in which the sect was most nu
merous, alarmed for their security, adopted mea
sures to repress it; and their measures, by being
rigorous, were, in general, effectual. The con
sequence was, as they could no longer be seditious
with impunity, they gradually became moderate;
and chiefly, by the influence and advice of Menno,
abandoned the idea of recurring again to arms.
Having, therefore, sunk to a state of indolence or
inaction, and instead of contending with princes
for their kingdoms, disputing with themselves about
words, they soon began to fritter into distinct so
cieties, which have very little resemblance to each
other, except the identity of the general appella-

246 ILLUSTRATIONS

tion of Anabaptists. They are divided into Men-
nonites, Hulterians, Gabrielists, Moravians, &c. &c.
among- whom there prevails a degree of confusion,
equal to that which reigned at Babel. Some deny
the trinity ; some the distinction of persons; some
maintain that all learning, particularly that of the
languages, is the gift of Satan, some So that, such
is the variety and absurdity of their multiplied
opinions, it is difficult to ascertain, what they con
sist of, in reality."

" From the school of the Anabaptists came forth
several new heresiarchs George Delpht, who
called himself the true Messias, and who drew after
him a great number of disciples, in several parts
of Holland Henry, surnamed House of Charity,
who ranked himself above Moses and Jesus Christ
William Postel, who taught, that himself had
delivered men from eternal death, while his wife
had delivered women"

"About this period, began to appear, on the
theatre of the reformation, the sect of the So-
cinians. Their doctrines are a compound of those
of Ebion, Arius, Sabellius, Photinus, Abelard,
and of several other heresiarchs. With a boldness,,
which Christianity should not tolerate, and which
is dangerous to civil governments, they began to
corrupt and undermine all the truths of revelation.
Servetus was the first founder of the sect ; Gen-
tilis gave it some celebrity ; but Laelius Socinus,

TO SERMON II. 247

the bosom friend of Calvin, diffused it, while
Faustus, the nephew of Laslius, organized it into
a system."

" To the aid of impiety, there, also, in 1552,
rose up the heresy of the Ubiquitarians, who main
tained, along with many other errors, that the
body of Jesus Christ is every where personally
present, and that all the properties of the divine
nature were infused into his human nature by the
hypostatic union. Hence, they taught, that the
body of Christ is contained in a glass of beer, in a
sack of corn, in the rope with which the criminal
is hanged. Their first apostle was John Westpha-
fus, a minister of Hamburgh, who was succeeded
by Brentius, Wigand, Illyricus Osiander, Schmid-
ling, and several others, the greatness of whose
learning was only exceeded by the greatness of
their impiety."

" During the growth and propagation of these
errors, six of the principal leaders of the Ubiqui
tarians composed a book, which they entitled the
Concord ; and which they proposed to the general
acceptation and subscription of all the protestant
societies, under pain, in case of refusal, of being
excluded from the communion of the Augsburg
Confession. The publication of this book served
only to increase the spread of confusion and disor
der. It created new schisms among the gospellers,
who were already divided into Lutherans, C alvin

248 ILLUSTRATIONS

ists, Phillipists, Flaccans, Sic. &c. some of whom 1
received the Augsburg Confession without altera
tion, some only admitted it with corrections."

"In Holland, the reformation had, hardly, super
seded catholicity, when its tranquillity began to be
disturbed by the new and formidable society of
the Arminians. These treading in the footsteps of
the Socinians, or more properly real Socinians
themselves not only entertain the most impious
tenets respecting grace and predestination, they
also teach, that it is wrong to worship the Holy
Ghost, and that the trinity is, merely, an object of
speculation, &c. Armed with these errors strong
in the host of learned men, who defended them,
and still stronger in the multitudes of the unlearned,
who were deluded to believe them, the Arminians
not only formed a schism in the churches of the
Low Countries, but they excited seditions and dis
turbances throughout the nation, which hardly the
arm of justice, though wielding the sword of per
secution, and often staining it with blood, was able
to repress. However, at length, force, aided by the
synod of Dort,did re-establish peace, though nothing
like unanimity."

"Among the reformed churches, frequent at
tempts were made to bring about a reconciliation",
but such was the turbulence of their respective
leaders, and such their ardor for error and inno
vation, that every attempt proved fruitless and 1

TO SERMON II. 249

abortive. Hulseman, Calovius, Botsac, Danhau-
wer, a crowd of other reformers, and particularly
those of Wittemberg, insolently armed themselves
with new violence to create divisions."

"In England, as it was in all other countries, the
introduction of the reformation was the introduc
tion of division, discord, and disorder. The pas
sions of Henry had altered many of the ancient
doctrines of the church. Edward added fresh
changes to those of Henry, and Elizabeth increas
ed the changes of Edward. However, along with
all these changes, there was still permitted to sub
sist a multitude of popish ceremonies, and the ty
rant antichristian institution of episcopacy. All
these objects, but particularly the latter, were ex
tremely obnoxious to the followers of Calvin, who,
at this period, were become very numerous, and
very formidable to the nation, under the name of
Puritans. The contest between these and the esta
blished church fonns a very striking epoch in the
annals of English history.

"Nothing is so easy as for men to run into
extremes. This was soon the case with the Puri
tans. They early began to fritter themselves into
various classes of Brownists, Separatists, Semi-sepa
ratists, Robinsonians, and the numerous sects of
Independents. The number of these sects exceeds
forty. In short, England was infected with the ve
nom of every species of corrupted opinion. There
32

50 ILLUSTRATIONS

was nothing sacred that was not reprobated as
profane; nor hardly aught profane, that was not
maintained as sacred. Even the most ignorant,
and the poorest became preachers, alleging in
their own defence, that the spirit breathes where
it pleases;" and that truth is not confined to the
schools of learning. They preached, -(the case
precisely the same with the Methodists at present)
and the populace was blind enough to believe them.
How well,-- to use the words of the commentators
of the English bible, on the 25th verse of the 10th
chapter of Genesis how well does the name ofPha-
leg become our times? How well migJit we gwe this
name (it signifies Division} to every child that
comes into the world ! How easy ivould it be to fill
up our annals with this name; so deplorable are our
divisions. Never, since the creation of the world,
did there exist so many monstrous opinions, as there
are at present in England."

"From the body of the independents, as from
the Trojan horse, there came forth upwards of
forty different sects. Some of them rejected the
scriptures; some taught, that there was no longer
any church of God whatever, on earth, these
were called Waiters : some maintained, that there
was indeed a church, but that it was hidden, and
these were called Seekers. The opinions of some
of these sectarists are too horrible to be related.
For my own part, I think, as those do, who say,

TO SERMON IT. 251

that England is the great nurse of errors, and the
great theatre where there exists the most dreadful
licentiousness of believing, writing, teaching what
ever passion or folly is pleased to dictate. The his
tory of the heresies and schisms of other nations
presents nothing to be compared to the scenes of
error which it exhibits."

"At periods, also, still more recent than those,
to which I have alluded, Great Britain continued to
hold out to the rest of Europe, the same, or nearly
the same, scenes of extravagance and impiety with
the above. You might often find in one family,
as many religions, as there were individuals who
composed it. The pretext and apology for all this,
were liberty of conscience, and the privilege of
general toleration. In reality, nothing is more flat
tering to self-love and vanity, than to judge for one's
self, to assume the Ephod, and to be the arbiter of
our own belief." HORNIUS.

Such is the description which a learned and zea
lous protestant presents of the errors and confusion,
which resulted from the reformation; and such
the concluding reflections which he makes upon
the principle from which the errors and confusion
grew. From his description, it is evident, that
when once reason is emancipated from the influ
ences of authority, or has rejected the divinity of
the catholic church, not only are unity and order
unattainable, it is evident, that every species of

252 ILLUSTRATIONS

error, and every form of disorder are the obvious
and never-failing consequences. For my own part,
after calculating the nature of religion the sub
limity of its doctrines, and the severity of its max
ims after calculating the weakness of the human
mind, and the force of passion, self-love, and the
imagination after calculating these, with all the
difference of character, which the difference of ca
pacity, inclination, habit, and education must create
and hearing it admitted, that every individual is,
by the supposed light and suggestions of his own
reason, allowed to judge of the doctrines of re
velation, and by his judgment, regulate his faith
not only do all the absurdities which Hornius has
enumerated, appear to me natural and consistent,
they appear to me, with such principles, although
absurd, reasonable ; although impious, harmless ;
and although numerous, few. For, where each
individual is permitted to judge for himself and
each cannot judge right where can be the crime of
error? Or, in like manner, where each one is
permitted to judge for himself and each one can
not judge alike, where can be the cause of won
der, that the forms of error should be innumerable?
And yet it is true, that by the principles of pro
testantism, not only each individual is permitted,
but to be consistent, even obliged to be the judge
and arbiter of his own belief. "Judge for your-

TO SERMON II. 253

selves" says Luther, "that is the sole rule of truth,
and the sole rule of gospel libeity?''*

What a prolific source of errors and impieties is
here laid open to the human mind ; and how easy
it is, by it, to account for all the heresies and abuses,
disorders and horrors of the reformation! Surely;
and the idea occurs to my reason with insupera
ble force surely if truth be divine and one, and if
the profession of truth, as it is be essential to sal
vation, then should the path which conducts to it be
more secure, and the means of attaining it more

*I quote Luther, as the highest authority which the pro-
testant ought to revere, he being, as Dr. Rennel observes, af
ter a multitude of other protestants, "the chosen instrument
of God commissioned to instruct mankind." But, the above
rule is, by no means, peculiar to that great apostle, it is equal
ly the rule of every sect of the reformation ; and although there
was a period, when some of our establishment had the in
consistency to contest it, "it has ceased," as Belsham re
marks, "ever since the Bangorian controversy, to be called in
question." "It is even," he adds, "admitted in its full extent,
with an explicit avowal of, and approbation of all its con
sequences." As an instance of the explicitness of this avowal,
just take the words of Dr. Watson, in one of his charges. "When
we take, says this great man, an enlarged view of the na
ture of man, and of the different situations, in which, not
only different nations, but different individuals in the same
nation, are placed, with respect to religious attainments, we
must feel the necessity of vindicating to every individual of
the human race, the. absolute right of worshiping God /JV
HIS OWJVWAY."

254 ILLUSTRATIONS

easy! I cannot help imagining, that the reforma
tion gives too much liberty to its disciples, were
its disciples even all wise, learned, and virtuous.
But, to give an uncontrolable liberty to all; and
permit, yea, command all to employ that liberty
in the investigation of truth, and the selection of
their faith, this to me appears worse than nonsense.
It would, I think, be just equally wise to command
the ignorant and unexperienced landsman, without
sail or rudder, without helm or compass, to sail
amid storms and darkness, to the pole just equally
wise to bid the populace be always sober, and yet
open pipes of wine, or oceans of liquor to their in
temperance.

Since the period when Hornius drew up his ge
nealogy of the errors of the reformation, it is well
known how much the frightful generation has been
increased. Error, since that epoch, has been daily
begetting error, and fancy and fanaticism produc
ing folly and superstition. Each parent sect has,
with prolific fecundity, generated an offspring too
numerous, in some instances, for industry to enu
merate an offspring, soon, like its parent, pro
ducing another offspring, countless perhaps as that
of its parent. In reality, each sect almost has prov
ed an hundred headed monster, or as Hornius
says of the Independents, each sect, like the Gre
cian horse in Troy, has teemed out a host of men,
who disfiguring the beauty, mutilating the integri-

TO SERMON II. 255

ty, and corrupting the sanctity of religion, have
seduced the credulity of the ignorant, and by a
thousand different paths, conducted them to the
abysses of perdition. It is not my intention,
although the circumstance is well deserving the
attention of curiosity, to trace this monstrous ge
nealogy. It demands resources, which I have not;
and patience, also, of which I am equally destitute,
as I am of resources. Walton, in the preface, I be
lieve, to his Polyglot, tells us, that even "in this
country, the abyss of hell seemed to have been let
open, and to have darkened with its smoke the
light of heaven. All protestants, says he, are be
come doctors and divinely learned; and, as once
in Greece Aristarchus could hardly find seven wise
men, so among us, there are hardly seven fools.
The veriest ideot preaches the word of God; and
our cities, villages, camps, houses, nay our very
churches and pulpits are filled with these, who lead
the poor deluded people after them to the pit of
hell." It is evident, that where ''all are ivise,
and all preachers" the spawn of sects and sectar-
ists must be innumerable.

256 ILLUSTRATIONS

(E) PAGE 37.

On the variations in the protestant creeds.

"What beings, says the reformer Dudith, in
his letter to Beza, what beings are we protestants,
wandering to and fro, and carried about by every
wind of doctrine, sometimes to this side, sometimes
to that! You may perhaps guess what we believe
to-day; but you will never be able to ascertain what
we shall profess to-morrow. In what point of reli
gion do the churches agree among themselves, which
have rejected the authority of the see of Rome?
Examine them from first to last, you will scarce
find any one tenet affirmed or believed by one sect,
which is not immediately condemned by another."

But, in order to form a tolerable accurate idea
of the numberless variations, which nearly each
creed of the reformation underwent, I refer the
reader to Bossuet's History of the Protestant varia
tions. There he may trace, very distinctly, the
truth of Bishop Dudith's inculpation opinions
veering, like the winds, and belief unsettled as the
waves. " He will find religion, in this country,"
Sir Richard Baker observes, " come to a strange
pass, because always in passing, and having no
consistency, so that, in reality," he adds, " the

TO SERMON II. 257

fable of Proteus is no longer a fable, if the religion
of England be its moral."

But why look for unity and order, where indi
viduals have all an equal share of liberty, where
each has the right to judge and decide, and none
the power to control his decision? Admit only a
similar system of civil liberty into politics, how
soon would society exhibit a scene of anarchy and
discord ? But, the case is, the protestant govern
ments understand much better the nature of civil
liberty ; and regulate much more wisely its in
fluences, than their churches conceive the princi
ples, and direct the bearings of their religious
liberty.

(F) PAGE 38.

The reformed churches have all departed from tlieir
original constitutions.

Mosheim, whose partiality to protestantism is
only surpassed by his prejudices against popery,
very honestly, in spite of both, admits the licen
tiousness, and acknowledges the variations which
have taken place in all the different codes of faith
of the reformed churches.

" In Germany," he says, " at present, the Lu
therans take the most unbounded liberty of dissent-
33

258 ILLUSTRATIONS

mg from their symbolical books, which, formerly,
were considered by them as an almost infallible
rule of belief and practice." CENT. 17.

*' Towards the end of the 17th century, they
(the Lutherans) adopted the leading maxims of the
Arminians, that Christians are accountable to God
alone for their religious sentiments; whence the
most unbridled licentiousness originated, which
holds nothing sacred." CENT. 17.

u In the reformed church of France, its doctors
have departed, in several points, from their com
mon rule of faith." CENT. 17.

"The city of Geneva has not only put on senti
ments of esteem for the Arminians, but is become
almost so far Arminian, as to deserve a place
among the churches of that communion." CENT.
17.

But, speaking of reformed churches in general,
he says :

"Though there be, every where, certain books,
creeds, and confessions, by which the wisdom and
vigilance of ancient times have thought proper to
perpetuate the truths of religion, and to preserve
them from the contagion of heresy, yet in most
places, no person is obliged to adhere to the doc
trines they contain. . . . Hence, in our times, this
great and extensive community comprehends in its
bosom Arminians, Calvinists, Supralapsarians, Sub
lapsarians, and Universalists." CENT. 18.

TO SERMON II.

Why does he not say, at once, that the mem
bers of these establishments are, nearly all, free
thinkers, verifying the prophecy of d'Alembert
though, indeed, it did not require a very pro
phetic spirit to foresee \t"thal every protestant
church would, ere long, become Socinian?" In this
country, the case is the same as in those which
Mosheim mentions. "The articles of our esta
blished church," Mason Good remarks, "are dif
ferently .interpreted by many, even of the Right
Reverend Bench itself, from what they were for
merly; and it seems doubtful," he adds, "whe
ther their basis be chiefly Arminian or Catvinistic."
Mason Good, although he says the truth, says
little; for in regard of the 39 articles, I do not
think there are a dozen members of the establish
ment, who have the weakness to believe them. I
think, that if in general interrogated respecting
their belief of themand they would Jwnestly answer
tlie interrogation or if reproached for having sub
scribed them without believing them- -and they
would meekly bear the reproach they would retura
the same answer, and make the same apology,
which one of the reviewers informs us a gentleman
of Cambridge made lately, on the occasion of such
interrogation and such reproach; "Why" said
the learned and honest clergyman, "no one believes
them; and therefore, by subscribing them, I deceive

260 ILLUSTRATIONS

nobody; the subscription is a mere matter of form
and ceremony"

(G) PAGE 42.

On the inconsistency of the protestant sects condemn
ing each otlier for heresy.

However improper be the motive, or incon
sistent the principle, upon which the reformers
insult the papist and condemn popery, yet it is easy
to account, from various causes, for such intem
perance. The mere circumstance of our professing
the truth accounts for it sufficiently; "for truth
is always odious to error." But, it is not so easy
to account by any principles, and least of all, by
the principles of protestantism, for the great se
verity with which the protestant sects have mutual
ly and repeatedly treated each other censuring,
excommunicating, and condemning each other, as
schismatics, heretics, &c. &c. Doubtless, if men
have all an equal right to judge, then have all an
equal right to believe their judgments true if Dr.
Watson's rule be correct, that protestantism con
sists in believing and teaching what each one pleases
" et sentire quce velit ct quoe sentiat loqui" then
is it a violation of protestant principle to condemn
or censure any one for his belief, be the nature of

TO SERMON ii

his belief what it may. By this rule there is, evi
dently, no such thing as heresy. Or, if there be
the only heresy, by it, would be the condemnation
of any individual for believing what he pleases
for what other violation can such a rule admit?

Therefore do I smile, when I hear the protestant
of our establishment, or the Lutheran, call the
Calvinist or the Anabaptist heretics. For why,
while even each private individual is permitted to
believe whatever he may please why was not Cal
vin as much as Cranmer, and Muncer as much as
Luther, allowed the same privilege; or why not,
equally with them, if they could do it, allowed to
erect distinct establishments? Should any be
so unwise, as to contend that Calvin, or Muncer,
or any other reformer, are heretics, because they
dissented, or dissent from the established religion
of a country, then must they own, that all the first
reformers the apostles of protestantism were he
retics and rebels; because they all dissented from
the religion of the established church. But, the
case is obvious; certainly, Calvin was allowed
what Cranmer was; and Muncer the same as
Luther ; and therefore, if the former were not he
retics for believing and teaching what they pleased,
so neither were the latter. Yes ; and it is the same
thing, precisely, with the respective followers of
these men. The Calvinist is no more a heretic
than the Anglican; nor the Anabaptist than the

262 ILLUSTRATIONS

Lutheran. Each individual, in each sect, posses*
the same right to judge, as the apostle who form
ed his sect. Every protestant is equal and

Among equals lies no last appeal.

By these principles, which admit no other tribunal
in faith, but private judgment, it is plain, that it
is grossly inconsistent in one class of protestants to
condemn, as heretics, the members of any other,,
be what may the tenets which they profess.

Yes; and I smile too, when even I hear the-
protestants as they all do condemn the ancient
innovators as hereticsthe Arians, Nectorians,
Pelagians, &c. For there is no maxim in the
code of protestantism, by which either they should
consider, or reprobate them as such. Tliey judged
and believed as tlwy pleased ; and this by the rule
of protestantism, they were bound to do. They
had the same attestations, and the same sanctions,
for their belief, with the wisest protestant. Or 7
if the protestant should say, that by reading the
scriptures more accurately than the Arians, the-
Nestorians, and Pelagians (and, indeed, this is
what alone he should say) he, there, discovers that
these men were heretics I answer, that such mode
of reasoning is absurd, or, at best, a mere pre
sumption of the point in question. The Arian,
the Nestorian, and Pelagian reply, that themselves
read the sacred scriptures, more accurately than the

TO SERMON II. 263

protestant; and there discovered, they add, that
their's, not the tenets of the protestant, are divine :
and, of course, that not they, but the protestants,
are the heretics. Who are right, who wrong?-
Why, it is plain, that since all have the same liberty
to judge, and the same motives and evidences to be
lieve that their judgments are correct,-4here is no
more reason why the protestant should condemn
the ancient innovators of heresy, than why the
ancient innovators were the circumstance possible
should condemn the protestant. For my own
part, I cannot conceive how, by the maxims of
protestantism, any one can possibly be a heretic:
or, if by these maxims, the thing be possible, I do
not conceive how it can be proved, that Arius, or
Nestorius, or Pelagius were heretics, if Luther, or
Calvin, or Cranmer were not.

(H) PAGE 42,

Authority in religion. Rousseau's reflections on
the reformation.

"Prove to me," says Rosseau, " that I am bound
to obey authority in religion, and to-morrow I be
come a catholic. 1 " The reason is, that as catho
licity reposes upon the basis of authority as infi-

264 ILLUSTRATIONS

delity and protestantism, both in principle and iti
reality, are founded upon the ruins of authority
whoever proves the necessity of authority, proves
consequently the necessity of admitting catholicity;
and, of course, the progressive necessity, in order
to be consistent, of re-entering the pale of the pa
rent church.

As I have quoted Rosseau, I will not close the
volume without transcribing from it the following
striking passages. They may not be quite analo
gous to the subject of the above paragraph ; but
they are so forcible, so eloquent, and conclusive
against the protestant, on the subject of the refor
mation in general, that I shall gratify the admirers
of good reasoning and elegance, by their insertion.
Amid the falsehoods and impieties of Rosseau,
there are, sometimes, interspersed truths, which
are set off with a stile, and enforced with a degree
of wisdom, that would have done honour to the
talents and piety of an Austin, a Bossuet, or a
Fenelon. "Let us re-ascend," he says, "to the
origin of the protestant religion. When the re
formers began to publish their new doctrines, the
whole church enjoyed a perfect peace: opinion was
unanimous: there was not one essential dogma
contested in the Christian body. In this state of
tranquility, behold, two or three men raise their
voices, and cry out to all Europe: Christians, be
ware, you are deceived, led astray, and conducted

TO SERMON II. 265

blindfold in the road to hell. The pope is Anti
christ, and the agent of the devil; and his church,
the school of falsehood. You are damned, if
you refuse to listen to us.

"At these first vociferations, Europe in aston
ishment, paused for some moments in silence, await
ing the result. At length, the clergy recovering
from their first surprise, and observing, that the
new comers attracted followers, thought it necessa
ry to come to an explanation with them. They
began by asking them what was the object and the
end of the tumult which they had excited? We
are, they fiercely answered, the apostles of truth,
called to reform the church, and to re-conduct the
faithful from the paths of perdition, in which the
priests are leading them."

"But," answered the clergy, "who gave you
this fine commission, to come and disturb the peace
of the church, and to destroy the public tran-
quility?" . . . "Our consciences," they said, "our
reason, our interior light, the voice of God, which
we cannot resist, without a crime. It is God who
called us to this holy ministry, and we follow our
vocation."

"You are then," replied the catholics, "the
envoys of God? In that case, we allow it is your
duty to preach, to reform, and instruct; and it is
our duty to listen to you. However, in order to
obtain this right, begin first, if you please, to shew
34

260 ILLUSTRATIONS

us your credentials: prophesy enlighten per*
form miracles display the proofs of your mission. 11
"We are the envoys of God," answered the re
formers; "but our mission is an extraordinary
one. We bring no new revelation: we confine
ourselves to that which has been given to you, but
which you now misunderstand. We come for
ward not with prodigies, which might deceive you,
and with which so many false doctrines are recom
mended; but with the signs of truth and reason,
which cannot deceive you with this sacred vo
lume, which you disfigure, and which we explain.
Our miracles are invincible arguments; and our pro
phecies are demonstrations. We foretell you, that
if you refuse to listen to the voice of Christ, which
speaks to you by our mouths, you shall be punished
like faithless servants, who knowing the will of
their master, refuse to do it."

"It was not natural, that the catholic should
admit the evidence of this new doctrine; and it
was generally rejected. The dispute, therefore,
being reduced to this point, it was in vain to ex
pect its termination. Each party triumphed in its
own cause, the protestants still maintaining, that
their interpretation and their proofs were so clear
and manifest, that only insincerity could reject
them the catholics, on their side, convinced that
the trifling arguments of a few individuals argu
ments too, which it was easy to answer ought

TO SERMON II. 267

not to prevail over the authority of the whole
church, which in every age, had decided diffe
rently from the reformers upon the points in ques
tion."

"Such was the state in which the quarrel rested.
They ceased not disputing respecting the authority
of the proofs a dispute, which can never end, till
men have all the same head.

"But, here, the catholics acted unwisely. Had
they instead of contesting the doctrines of their ad
versaries, called only in question their right of
preaching and instructing, they would have con
founded and perplexed them. In the first place,
they should have said to them, 'your mode of rea
soning is a mere petitio principii begging the ques
tion. For, if the strength of your arguments be
the proof of your mission, it follows, that where
they do not convince, your mission is false; and,
consequently, that it is lawful to punish you as he
retics and false apostles, as the disturbers of the
church and of society. You assert, that you ..are
the envoys of heaven; and you oblige us to believe
you, on your word alone; for you give no other sign
of your divine commission, but new interpretations
of the scriptures, which have always been under
stood in a different sense from yours. You preach,
you tell us, no new doctrines; but what then are
your new interpretations, if they are not new doc
trines? Surely, to give a new sense to the words

268 ILLUSTRATIONS

of the scripture, is not this establishing a new doc
trine? Is it not making God speak otherwise than
he had spoken before? It is not the sound, but the
sense of the words that God revealed; and there
fore, changing the sense, which has been always
admitted and determined in the church, that is
changing revelation."

"Moreover, behold how unjust you are; you
allow that miracles are essential, in order to au
thorize a divine mission and yet, you mere indi
viduals, you grant it, you come without miracles ;
and speak to us, imperiously, as the envoys of the
Almighty. You claim the authority of interpret
ing the scriptures by the dictates of your own ca
price; and yet you take from us the liberty to do
the like. You arrogate to yourselves alone a right
which you refuse to each of us; and which you
even refuse to all its, who compose the great body
of the church. Pray, on what title do you thus
subject our judgments to your private interpreta
tion^ . . . What unpardonable self-sufficiency, to
pretend to be always in the right to pretend to
be alone in the right, notwithstanding the reclama
tion of the whole Christian universe against you,
and to be unwilling to let any differ from you, who
have as much reason to believe themselves in the
right as you have. The distinctions which you
claim, could at best be sufferable, did you plainly
give us your advice and nothing more. But, no,

TO SERMON II. 269

you attack us with open war; blow up, every
where, the flames of discord; and then tell us,
forsooth, that the resistance to your doctrines is
rebellion, idolatry, and a crime deserving hell!
You will, absolutely, convert, convince, and compel
us. You dogmatize, preach, censure, anathematize,
excommunicate, punish, and put to death. You
exercise the authority of prophets ; and yet give
yourselves out as mere private individuals. What,
you innovators and intruders! upon your word
alone, and supported only by a few hundred in
dividuals, you burn your adversaries while ?e,
supported by the antiquity of fifteen centuries, and
the voice of a hundred million adherents, we do
wrong in restraining you! Either then, cease to
speak and act like apostles, or show us your com
missions ; or else, as we are stronger, you ought,
in justice, to be treated as impostors.' . . . What
solid answer could the reformers have made to this
expostulation? For my own part, I cannot see it.
I think, that either they would have been reduced
to silence, or compelled to work miracles."

ILLUSTRATIONS

(I) PAGE 44.

Protestantism the source of incredulity.

It is not under the influence of prejudice, nor at
the suggestion of illiberally to the protestant it is
not even to retort back an odious charge, which
the enemies of catholicity have, recently, with
malevolous industry, cast upon it that, either
in my discourse, or in the series of these illustra
tions, I have attributed to protestantism the genera
tion and propagation of incredulity. Against the
protestant, if I know myself, I have no prejudice
whatever ; nor are the imputations w r hich I bring
forward meant to apply to the protestant in general.
The protestant in general, entertains as much ab
horrence of impiety, as the catholic. It is upon
protestant principles that I propose chiefly to reflect,
which, from a fortunate ignorance, or equally for
tunate indolence, protestants in general do not
know ; or, at least, by a happy inconsistency, do
not follow. Born protestants, and trained to be
lieve what the nurse and the parson taught them,
they, without further inquiry, live protestants,
and honestly reprobate impiety just, as under the
same pious tutelage, they without knowing the
cause, cordially reprobate popery and the papist.
Be it then understood, that although, indeed, I

TO SERMON II. 271

do censure a multitude of protestants for aiding
the growth of impiety; yet, it is not upon the pro-
testant in general, but upon protestant principles,
that I fix the chief odium of having given birth,
and strength, and maturity to that dreadful evil.

I said, the chief odium ; for neither do I mean
to attach the whole mischief of impiety either to
those protestants who first introduced the principles
of impiety, nor to the influence of the principles
themselves. In the walks of life, there are men
who are impious, or unbelievers, from a variety of
principles from passion, licentiousness, vanity---
many who are impious, from no principle what
ever, sophistical buffoons, who laugh at whatever
is not mean as their own ignorance, or depraved
as their own hearts. There are various principles
of impiety ; and therefore, I by no means intend to
assert, that the principles of protestantism are its
only source.

However, this I assert, and I think the circum
stance evident that the principles of protestant
ism, that is, the liberty of private judgment, and
the consequent liberty of believing only what pri
vate judgment dictates, are the natural source of
impiety-- have eventually proved the source of im
piety, and have been acknowledged such by the
school of impiety itself. I will endeavour to prove
these three positions in the series of this illustration.

ILLUSTRATIONS

I say then, in the first place, that the principles
of protestantism, that is, the liberty of private judg
ment, and the belief reposing upon the dictate
of private judgment, are the natural sources of im
piety.

It will not be denied, by whoever has but super
ficially studied the nature of the human character
the various forms of its capacity, and the still
more various forms of its dispositions, were even
the former far more enlarged, and the latter far less
corrupted, than they are it will not be denied,
that it is impossible for all to see truth in the same
point of view, or to agree exactly in the same no
tion of its certainty, its expediency, and its wisdom.
For all to see truth in the same point of view, and
agree exactly in their notions of its properties,
it would be necessary, that all should have the same
talents to discern it, and the same inclinations and
candor to admit it. And, since this is not the case,
it obviously follows, that if, indeed, men will view
truths and judge of them as they please, of course
they will see them differently, and disagree about
their import ; and again, of course, as all disa
greement implies error somewhere multitudes will
err.

Error, therefore, results from the mere liberty
of judgment, reposing upon the mere varieties of
the human capacity and human disposition sup
posing, too, that these bo neither corrupted nor

TO SERMON II. 273

depraved. But, suppose now, that all these va
rieties of capacity and disposition are corrupted and
depraved suppose the capacity weakened by the
passions and prejudices of society; and the disposi
tion vitiated by its excesses, what errors if they
produce errors when uncorrupted ought they
not to generate under so impure a fermentation ?
Let the eye only cast a glance along the paths and
avenues of life, how small, how extremely small
a number does it discern, that are virtuous and
wise! It discovers, and reads distinctly, that the
great herd of mankind consists of men who are the
dupes of dissipation, vice, ignorance, pride, self-
love, interest, &c. Well; and give to all these
the equal liberty to judge, and decide for them
selves and to judge too, and decide for them
selves upon truths, which are transcendantly supe
rior to the reach of their abilities, unpleasing to
their passions, and painful to their self-love good
sense, I ask thee, what should naturally be the con
sequence of such liberty? Why, doubtlessly, that
they would judge wrong doubtlessly, that seeing
objects through false mediums through the me
diums of passion, and ignorance, and prejudice,
and pride, and interest, they would see them in
the colours of these vices, and give them the in
terpretation which is most natural to these vices.
Thus, for the case is quite correlative give men
the liberty to act as they please, what would be
35

274 ILLUSTRATIONS

the consequence? Certainly; that they would
act ill, and convert their liberty into a source of
anarchy. The case, I have said, is quite corre
lative ; for, it is just as natural to think ill, as it is
to act ill just as natural to believe profanely, as
to act profanely. And hence, nothing is more
manifest, than that if you allow all, indiscriminate
ly, to judge for themselves, and to judge for them
selves, too, upon truths the most sublime; and
obligations, which are painful to their inclinations,
they will, multitudes of them, at least some mis
conceive, some misinterpret, and some misbelieve
them they will, some of them, deride and con
temn them. Unfortunately, incredulity is conge
nial to vice and corruption. It is their unhappy
interest to be incredulous ; because it is their un
happy interest if they will pursue the career of
pleasure to remove all those circumstances which
cast a gloom upon their enjoyments. Jlnd yet,
need I repeat it it is true, that protestantism allows
and sanctions to every individual tlie most boundless
liberty of judgment and belief? It is the Magna
Charta, the Bill of Rights, of the Reformation.

Yes; and were vice and corruption far less ge
neral, and less licentious than they are, yet would
curiosity alone, and the fondness of novelty, where
they are permitted to believe what they please, pro
duce countless forms of error and systems of im
piety. There is not, perhaps, any principle in

TO SERMON II. 275

the human mind, even in the mind of the wise and
moral, which it is more pleasing to exert, than
the freedom of speculation. It gratifies the pride
of reason, and flatters the partialities of self-love; it
amuses and animates the boldness of liberty, and
gives fresh energy to the wings of the imagination.
It is, accordingly, to curiosity, or to this fond
ness for speculation, that the writers of the Great
French Encyclopedia the D'Alemberts and Di-
derots, attribute much of the growth and diffusion
of impiety. "The first step," say these men,
"which the curious and indocile catholic takes,
when he begins to be dissatisfied with his religion,
is to adopt the protestant rule of investigation
to constitute himself the judge of the doctrines of
religion, and to become a protestant. Led on by
this rule, in the ardour of investigation, he soon
begins to discover, that the principles of protes
tantism, too, are incoherent, and its doctrines unin
telligible. Still, therefore, conducted by the same
rule, he goes forward, and becomes a Socinian.
Socinianism, he finds out, has all the perplexities
and inconsistencies of protestantism; and he, there
fore, declares himself a deist. Well; still discon
tented, because still pursued with difficulties, he
insensibly becomes a Pyrrhonist. Pyrrhonism is a
state too painful for self-love to endure, and he
concludes the series of his errors by sinking into
the dreadful abyss of atheism." Thus do men,

276 ILLUSTRATIONS

who had studied well the nature of the human
mind; who had often traced effects to their
causes with great acuteness, and who had pursued
the principle of free investigation through all its
bearings attribute the growth of every form of
incredulity to the adoption and application of the
rule of protestantism although it be adopted and
applied from the mere principle of curiosity, act
ing under the influence of the supposed desire and
search of rational evidence.

In reality, all this appears but natural to who
ever has wisely reflected on the nature of the hu
man mind, which is extremely weak, and the easy
dupe of the disorders of the imagination on the
nature of truth, which is often a labyrinth inter
sected with countless mazes on the nature of re
ligion, whose dogmas are too sublime for reason
to comprehend. Not only is error the natural
appendage of curiosity; but considering how men
conduct their curiosity, and to what objects they
direct it, it appears to me, that almost every form
of error from harmless nonsense, down to the
most profane impiety is, almost, equally natural.
I have just quoted the sentiments of the Encyclo
pedists upon the effects which the unrestricted li
berty of investigation is wont to generate. To
their testimony I will add another, which like
theirs, upon this subject, is unexceptionable and
philosophic the testimony of the celebrated, but

TO SERMON H. 277

impious Bayle. "Reasoning," says this unhap
pily great writer, "if not wisely regulated and re
strained, instead of proving truth, combats it
When allowed to follow the dictates of the imagi
nation, it neither knows where it is, nor where it
ought to stop. It is a corrosive powder, which
after having eaten the corrupted parts of the wound,
eats next the sound; attacks and consumes the
bone, and, at last, penetrates to the very mar

row.""

The fact is and Bayle alludes to it in his re
flections upon the causes of error few men reason
wisely, that is, upon clear data and correct maxims
few place the objects which they affect to study,
in the attitude in which alone they ought to be
contemplated ; or if they do, they place themselves
probably in the wrong situation to catch their va
rious bearings and relations few have the wisdom
to know how to combine, or the industry to labour
to combine, the detached and scattered parts of
the systems, which either they, perhaps, blindly
follow, or with equal blindness, perhaps, reject
few have the good sense to pursue, correctly, the
long chain of an analysis through all its links of
dependents, subordmates, &c. which mutually, like
the parts of a problem in mathematics, hang by
e^h other, supporting each other, giving con
sistency to each other, and conducting, at length,
to that point, where reason reposes under the beam

278 ILLUSTRATIONS

of evidence few, in short, reason correctly, and
of course, few draw correct conclusions,- -few rea
son upon true principles, and therefore, few draw
true conclusions. Where a man reasons only upon
a false principle, if he have the unhappy consistency
to follow it up through its results, he must essen
tially become the dupe of error; and, if he apply
it to important subjects, he must essentially become
the dupe of important errors. One false principle
in reasoning, like one error in calculation, must
produce a false result. In a sum, where one part
is incorrect, the whole product is incorrect; or
else, as Lucretius says,

In fabric^, si falsa est regula prima,
Omnia mendose fieri atque obstipa necessum est,
Prava, cubantia, prona, supina.

"I could believe," says Bayle, "if I were permit
ted to believe from the combinations of reasoning
deduced from one false principle, that men and
Gods are the produce of fermentation." Yes,
and suppose too which frequently is the case
that the men who adopt and pursue false princi
ples, or if you please, who adopt a wrong method
of applying true principles suppose them to be the
vain, the ignorant, the prejudiced, and the partial
it is evident, that the consequences which they
will deduce, will be not only false, but false almost

TO SERMON II. 279

in every degree of error, which the fancy can sug
gest. Or suppose which is likewise more fre
quently still the case that the vicious, the liber
tine, and the profligate, armed with false princi
ples, and with the liberty of applying them as they
please, do apply them in reality; and suppose that
they apply them in balancing the evidences of re
ligion against the evidences of philosophy, under
the direction of the protestant maxim, that nothing
is to be believed, but what their senses penetrate,
or their reason comprehends why, as it is evident,
in the first instance, that they would penetrate,
and comprehend little, so it also evident, that
they would believe little; but, as too, it is their
interest to believe nothing, so it is also plain, that
with such principles, acting under the influence of
such passions, they would, many of them, believe
nothing. When men of this description pretend to
weigh the awful subject of religion, truth is a mere
atom in the balance. Bolder than Brennus, they
not only direct the beam, but they cast the whole
ponderous mass of their passions, and interests, and
prejudices, into the scale against it. Atheism, and
a total emancipation from all the restraints of reli
gion, are the natural results of unrestrained inves
tigation.

I said, in the second place, and this will be an
elucidation of the preceding paragraphs that the
principles of protestantism have eventually proved

280 ILLUSTRATIONS

the source of much impiety. Whoever will give
himself the trouble to consult the history of the in
troduction and growth of incredulity, will discover,
even upon the testimony of many protestant histo
rians, from the coincidence of dates, and the au
thority of facts, that its introduction was precisely
coeval with the introduction of the reformation;
that its growth grew with the growth of the reforma
tion; and that its opinions are merely the application
and consequences of the leading maxim of the refor
mation. I shall give the proofs of these, perhaps,
apparently harsh assertions. Previous to the epoch
of the reformation, curiosity, it is certain, seeks in
vain, I do not say for a society, or sect of incredules
it seeks, almost in vain, through the lapse of
ages, and the extent of kingdoms, for the solitary
individual, who had the bold impiety to call in
question the divinity of revelation; and when it
finds such, it finds that he seems only to have ap
peared to excite the astonishment, and awaken the
horror of the public. Although, as I have ob
served there existed, at every period, many of the
materials vice, passion, interest, and pride which
enter into the composition of incredulity, yet was
there then no torch to set them in a blaze; or at
least, no hand sufficiently daring to present the torch
to the combustible materials. The Christian uni
verse, till the reformation, consisted of believers in
revelation.

TO SERMON II. 281

Luther begins the bold career of innovation.
He lays it down as the first maxim of his pretended
reform, a maxim, which Roscoe calls "7iis un-
perishabk honor and merit" that the reason of each
individual is the sole guide and arbiter of his belief.
I have already made some philosophic observations
on the nature and tendency of this maxim; and
whoever, bearing these in his recollection, will re
flect also, upon the features of the times, when
Luther introduced it, and the tempers of the men,
whom he induced to adopt it, will, without the
aid of much sagacity, conceive what were the
effects which it produced. Strait did error, in
every varied shape of deformity, pervade all the
paths of society, where it grew, establishing its do-
miniofi upon the ruins of virtue, piety and wisdom.
Within the interval of very few years, the pro-
testant historians themselves inform us, there were
formed and organized above two hundred codes
of religious faith! It was probably the impious
confusion, originating in the leading principle of
the reformation, that the acute mind of Melancthon
foresaw, and contemplated, when he so emphatical
ly exclaimed, Great God! what mischiefs are we re
formers preparing for the universe!*

*It is the opinion of Lord Bacon, and indeed of many
others, that the mere circumstance of divisions in faith, are
the causes of atheism. " The causes of atheism," says Bacon,
u are divisions in religion, if they be many." The reason in

36

282 ILLUSTRATIONS

Not that I consider two hundred systems of be
lief as numerous, when I consider, at the same
time, the principle upon which they were hinged,
and the impulse which was given to the public
mind to make the application of that principle.
On the contrary, calculating for the operation of
these circumstances, I conceive them few I con
ceive, that the application of the principle was
made, at first, with a certain mixture of timidity.
Withheld by the influences of their early education,
a multitude of the first heresiarchs, still retained in
their tenets and practices many of the great mys
teries, and pious observances of the parent church
They had not so little even were their passions
prepared for all the mischiefs of infidelity they
had not the dreadful intrepidity to apply thellr own
maxims with consistency. The first errors of the
reformation, although marked with great profane-
ness, were still rather the effects of anarchy, such
as distinguish the openings of all revolutions, than

plain; even abstracting from the workings of vice, which,
also, are always forcible on these occasions : divisions create
doubt and perplexity in the minds of some, and contempt in
the minds of others. In either case, incredulity is a natural
consequence ; and Kett acknowledges that such, indeed, was
the case among the sects of the reformation. "The dissen-
fions," he says, "whicJi prevailed among the numerous sects,
which sprang from the doctrines of Luther and Calvin, un
happily assisted in the introduction of infidelity." View of
the prophecies.

TO SERMON II. 283

the regular combinations, and systematic effects,
which the principles of protestantism were calcu
lated to produce.

Such, however, is the nature of these principles,
and so obvious the consequences which they con
tain so congenial, at the same time, to the pride
and self-love of human reason, it is to deduce these
consequences, that it cannot be supposed that any
considerable length of interval would elapse, before
their admirers would have the unhappy courage to
attempt their application, and the philosophy to
pursue them through some of their various bearings.
Indeed, among the great host of their admirers,
there were a multitude of men, who to great cou
rage and a warm zeal for liberty, united also much
philosophy, and very extensive erudition. Pro
testantism, at the period to which I am alluding,
did certainly comprise within its pale, a class of
men, whose abilities and learning would have done
credit to the brightest asras of literature. Accord
ingly it was about twenty years after the intro
duction of the reformation we find a portion of
these men come forward; form themselves into a
separate sect, and attract an immense body of fol
lowers and disciples into their society, consisting,
like its leaders, of the most learned and distinguish
ed members of the protestant communion.

It will not surely be denied, that the Socinians
for this is the society to which I have allud-

284 ILLUSTRATIONS

ed were members of the protestant commu
nion; neither will it, I think, be asserted, that
the Socinians ceased to be protestants, by becoming
Socinians. As for the circumstance of the first
Socinians having been members of the protestant
church, this, Mosheim, and with him, the pro
testant historians who have written upon the sub
ject of Socinianism, admit. The writings, indeed,
of the first Socinians render it incontestible. And,
as for the other circumstance of their having ceas
ed to be protestants by becoming Socinians this,
like the preceding, only ignorance and prejudice could
maintain. The truth is, that the Socinians, so far
from ceasing to be protestants, by becoming So
cinians, on the contrary, become, by that very
action, rational and consistent protestants. They
but regulate their tenets according to the real ten
dency of protestant principles; and their faith,
they build upon protestant maxims. They, too,
very properly consider and call themselves pro
testants: only they consider and call themselves
consistent protestants ; philosophically, logically,
and honestly deducing the consequences, which
their acknowledged principles, too evidently, con
tain. Certainly, the Socinians are protestants, and
if consistency signify the correspondence of tenets
with the dictates of principles, they are, it is true,
the only consistent class of protestants. As for the
numbers of the Socinians, Mosheim remarks, they

TO SERMON II. 285

have always since the introduction of their heresy,
been very considerable, in every place almost where
protestantism subsists. At the present period, they
form, in point of talents and erudition, the most re
spectable portion of that community.

It is, in general, peculiarly wrong to make that
a compliment, which may perhaps, be construed
into an insult; and, therefore, having praised the
consistency and learning of the Socinians, it may
appear singular, that I should accuse them of
impiety. And yet is such the case. Although I
do, certainly, consider the Socinians as the most
consistent sect of the great protestant community;
yet do I also consider them the most irreligious,
and the most profane. The principles of Socinian-
ism are the two leading principles of protestant
ism, that the scriptures are tlie sole rule of faith,
and that reason is their sole interpreter. Guided by
these, they reason in regard of the various tenets
of revelation, precisely as the other sects of pro
testantism reason in regard of some of the doctrines
of popery which, it is well known, these reject
because to their reason and comprehensions, they
appear absurd. The principle they say and they
say it philosophically that reason is the sole guide
of faith implies the necessity of believing only what
reason understands-, and of course, of rejecting what
ever appears repugnant to its apprehensions. The
principle excludes the belief of mystery; and the

286 ILLUSTRATIONS

consequence is, the Socinians profess the disbelief
of mystery at least, they profess the disbelief of
the great prominent mysteries of Christianity. They
reject the Trinity, the incarnation of the Son of
God, the divinity of Jesus Christ, original sin, the
effects of the sacraments, the operations of divine
grace, &c. &c. The profaneness of Socinianism,
to the pious believer in revelation, appears and
certainly is extreme. In order to justify it, or
reconcile it to the nicer delicacy of their protestant
brethren, the Socinians shew them that they but
reason as the maxims of protestantism direct; and
that if, indeed, there be any thing impious in their
tenets, the impiety is not in their reasonings, but in
the maxims which contain them : they shew them,
too, that in respect either of the above mysteries,
or of any other mysteries of revelation, which they
disbelieve, they but disbelieve them on the same
principles, and prove them errors by the same pro
cess of argumentation, by which themselves reject
and refute the doctrines of catholicity. I am not
the advocate of the Socinians I reprobate their
principles, and abhor their tenets and yet, I do
contend, that if, indeed, the former were true,
and they are what every protestant admits the
latter would, in general, be correct. The case is,
the impiety of the Socinian tenets is contained in
the principle, that reason is the arbiter of faith.
If men have the misfortune to admit that principle,

TO SERMON II. 287

and the consistency to pursue it, of course, since
reason understands no mystery, it admits no mys
tery : and thus every protestant, did he follow up
his own principles, would be reduced, in order to
be consequent, to the necessity of becoming a So-
cinian.

I had advanced to this part of my illustration,
when accident threw into my hands a recent publi
cation from the pen of the Bishop of Durham. Its
general tenor has no analogy to my present subject;
but it contains two notes, which are immediately
connected with it; and upon which I shall, there
fore, make a few desultory observations.

At the bottom of the twentieth page of the work,
his lordship informs the reader, that there exists a
" remarkable parallel between popery and Socinian-
ism ;" and by way of proof, that there does really
exist such "remarkable parallel" he refers the
reader to a learned Latin note, in the pages 45 and
46, where he finds no kind of parallel whatever !
but a mere assertion, like his lordship's, that such
a parallel exists. If the parallel consists only in the
compliments which the papist is supposed, or does
occasionally, pay the Socinian, or which the So-
cinian, in like manner, sometimes pays to the papist,
doubtless, there is great reason to admire the acute-
ness of the discernment, which in so trifling a cir
cumstance, can trace " a remarkable paralkl" If
it consist in aught beside, it is pity, that while his

288 ILLUSTRATIONS

lordship gives us so much room to admire his pene
tration, he does not, by shewing the parallel, give
us also the occasion to admire his learning pity,
above all, since the charge is serious, and if false
extremely severe, that he does not by proving it,
present the opportunity of praising his liberality
pity, at all events, that as he cites the names of
two, I dare say, very learned polemics, he does
not also cite their proofs of his bold assertion. A
remarkable paralell between popery and Socinianism!
As for the doctrines of popery, I conceive that I
know them full well as Doctor S.; and, as for
those of Socinianism, although I am very far from
contesting his lordship's erudition, I cannot help
believing, from the serious attention which I have
given that subject, that my acquaintance with them
is not much inferior to his lordship's. And, I do
solemnly declare, after considering and comparing
the two systems together, in a variety of their
bearings, that so far from discovering "a remark
able parallel" between them, I, on the contrary,
discover the most remarkable opposition- so far
from finding them alike, I find them unlike each
other in every feature. Having thus positively
stated the difference of my opinion from his lord
ship's, I will appeal to the reader to decide which
of us has the most plausible motives for our respec
tive sentiments.

TO SERMON II. 289

I conceive, then, that for a parallel, above all,
a remarkable "parallel" to exist between any two
systems of religion, or philosophy, there ought to
exist a conformity in their principles; or a confor
mity in the conclusions, which they deduce from
their principles; or a conformity in their respective
tenets, practices, and regulations. Wisdom, sure
ly, will not contest the fairness of these positions;
for, besides these objects, there is nothing that
constitutes the ingredients of a system. Well;
adopting these as the criteria of the comparison of
the two systems of popery and Socinianism; I
repeat it; impartiality and good sense, so far
from finding them "remarkably parallel," will
find them, in every circumstance, remarkably dis
similar.

As for the leading principles of the two systems:
the leading principles of popery is authoiity; the
leading principle of Socinianism, reason. The
papist (I use here, this term, because his lordship
frowns upon the appellation of catholic) the papist
receives his creed, and is induced to believe it,
upon the recommendation of an institute, which
he venerates as infallible. The Socinian spurning
all the influences of authority, as the intrusions
upon liberty, and the violations of the rights of
reason, receives his creed, and believes it upon the
attestation of his own capacity, and the sanction
of his own opinion. So that in tJmr leading princi-
37

290 ILLUSTRATIONS

pies, there is not certainly any "remarkable paral
lel between popery and Socinianism"

The conclusions, which the two societies deduce
from their respective principles, are, like the prin
ciples themselves, not only not remarkably parallel,
they are remarkably dissimilar and unlike. In
duced by his principles to consider the voice of the
church as the dictate of the Holy Ghost, the papist
believes and professes whatever she proposes to him,
be it ever so impervious to his senses, or impenetra
ble to his reason. He believes and venerates a vari
ety of mysteries, not only all the great mysteries of
revelation, which the other sects of Christianity re
spect, but, as Dr. Johnson remarks, several others.
The Socinian, guided by the supposed sagacity of
his own reason, professes to believe nothing which
his reason does not comprehend; or, at least,
which his reason judges false. He, consequently,
admits none of the mysteries of revelation; but
melts down the great Christian dispensation to a
system of human philosophy, level, or nearly level,
as he can make it, to the measure of his own under
standing. So that, again, as the papist differs
from the Socinian most widely in his leading prin
ciples, so does he differ, equally widely, from him
in the conclusions which he deduces from them.
Certainly, there is not in either of these respects,
any "remarkable parellel" between popery and
Socinianism.

TO SERMON II.

In regard of the other appendages of popery,
besides those to which I have alluded its practices
and various regulations and forms of discipline
these, as they are hinged upon the belief of mys
teries, suppose the mediums of grace, and are the
institutions of external authority; they are, con
sequently, objects of contempt to the Socinian,
who deriding mysteries, and the mediums of grace,
and the institutions of external authority, as the in
ventions of priestcraft, and the dictates of super
stition, receives no tenets, reveres no practices,
respects no regulations and forms of discipline, but
what his own wisdom suggests, and the feelings of
his own mind approve. So that, once more, as
in their principles, and the deductions from their
principles, the papist differs from the Socinian, so
does he differ from him in every other article of
religion. And, is this the "remarkable parallel"
between popery and Socinianism.

"But," says his lordship, "the papists, com
mend the Socinians, and the Socinians reciprocally
commend the papists." If his lordship mean, by
the word " commend," that the papists admire
the principles, or praise the doctrines of the So
cinians; or that the Socinians approve the princi
ples, and esteem the doctrines of the papists, I
venture to assert it, his lordship is most egregious-
ly mistaken ; and that he will seek in vain, arnid the
host of papist, or in the school of Socinian writers.

292 ILLUSTRATIONS

for commendations of this description. Not even
will he find them, in the works of his favourite
authors, the learned Jameson, or the wise Ruarius.
Such commendations imply a total dereliction, and
flat denial of their respective tenets. The fact is,
there are no such commendations.

And yet, I allow it, the papist does sometimes
pay compliments to the Socinians; and like the
learned Reviewer, and the elegant and acute Vindi-
catw, acknowledges that " they are the most con
sistent of all protestants." I, too, have already
made, and repeat that compliment if it be one.
With the Remarker and Vindicator, I also think
the Socinians, not only the most consistent, but
the only consistent protestants. But then, I speak
of their reasoning, not of their tenets ; or, if I
speak of their tenets, I speak of them only as they
are deductions from their premissag, and as they
are hinged upon their principles. The Socinians
lay it down as their leading principle, and as the
basis of their religion, if it be, indeed, a religion
a principle and basis, which exclude all mys
tery; therefore, I assert, that as reasoners and
philosophers, they ought not, in order to be con
sequent and consistent, to admit any mystery.
Such, precisely, is the situation of the Socinian.
He adopts, as his rule of faith, a principle, which
is incompatible with the belief of mysteries; and
therefore, he rejects mysteries. The principle is

TO SERMON II. 293

impious : the reasoning is logical. And it is upon
the grounds of the reasoning only, that the papist
is induced to make any compliments to the So-
cinian. His compliments merely amount to this ;
that the Socinian, as a protestant reasoning upon
protestant principles, reasons more logically than
any other sect of protestants.

It is in a similar manner, and upon relatively
similar grounds, that the Socinian is, sometimes,
pleased to compliment the papist. The papist ad
mits, I have remarked, as the guide and rule of his
belief, a principle diametrically opposite to that of
the Socinian the principle of authority. He re
veres this authority, as sacred and infallible ; and,
therefore, he also reveres whatever comes to him
recommended and sanctioned by it, as certain and
indubitable. The Socinian, as a Socinian, rejects
and ridicules the popish principle ; but, as a rea-
soner and philosopher, he allows, that if indeed
the principle be true, the conclusions which the
papist deduces from it are correct: if authority
be the rule of belief, then he owns it. the belief of
the catholic is wise, rational and consistent. In
philosophy, consistency is placed, not precisely in
the truth of the principle, which forms the basis of
any system, but in the nice dependence and con
nection of the reasoning with that principle ; and
above all, in the accuracy of the deductions from
it Thus, the Socinian, though he rejects authori-

294 ILLUSTRATIONS

ty, allows that authority is the proper and only ba
sis of mystery. Therefore, he adds, admit it as the
rule of belief, and as reasoners, and it is necessary
to admit mystery, if it recommend mystery. It is
in this point of view only, that the Socinians allow
the catholic the merit of consistency, as reasoners
connecting, philosophically, their conclusions with
their premissae Indeed, the circumstance is so evi
dent, that the institution of authority renders the
belief of mystery consistent as the rejection of it
renders it inconsistent that not only the Arminians,
at the synod of Dort, remarked, that the re-
admission of it in the protestant societies, would
render the re-admission of popery again necessary;
but the deists themselves acknowledge, that if au
thority be, indeed, the rule of belief, then is catho
licity alone rational and consistent.

But, the papist and the Socinian, it is urged,
both make use of the same arguments against pro
testantism. True; but it is still upon the score of
inconsistency only; to shew the protestant the
pusillanimity of his reasoning, and the incoherence
of his belief, in admitting some mysteries and re
jecting others ; when by his principles, according
to the Socinian, there is equal reason to re
ject all; or else, according to the papist, there
is as much reason either to reject all those,
or to receive M, which catholicity respects, as
there is to reject or receive a few. You pro-

TO SERMON II. 295

fess, the Socinian says, the same rule of faith
which I do, that your reason is the criterion and
judge of what it is rational and necessary for
you to believe. This rule excludes the belief of all
mystery; and, therefore, you should, to be con
sistent, reject as I do, the belief of all mystery.
The papist reasons with him nearly in the same
manner. Rejoicing, indeed, at the fortunate pre
judice, which induces him to reverence any mys
terious truths, he respects, in his credulity, the
piety of the Christian; but considering him as a
reasorier, he derides, in his logic, the inconsistency
of the philosopher. You reject, the papist says t o
him, some of the mysteries of catholicity, because
your reason cannot comprehend them ; because to
your senses, or your imagination, they appear im
possible and repugnant; and yet you admit other
mysteries, which are just equally incomprehen
sible; and which to the senses and imaginations o f
other men, who are equally wise as you are, ap
pear equally impossible, and equally repugnant.
You have double weights and double measures. If
your reason only be your guide, then should you
admit only what reason understands, and admit
no mysteries: if aught beside reason be your
guide, then is there the same motive for admitting
all the mysteries of popery, as there is for admit
ting some. The mysteries of religion are all of
them dark, impenetrable, impervious to the eye of

296 ILLUSTRATIONS

reason. It is thus, that both the Socinian and the
papist argue with the protestant, employing protes-
tant principles and protestant logic to convince him,
that whether he combat Socinianism, or popery,
or defend his own tenets, his own maxims recoil,
always, upon himself, and convict him of incon
sistency. But, behold, compressed into one line,
the theory of whatever I have said upon the subject
of the motives of beliefa theory, which both
the Socinian and the catholic admita theory, in
deed, which is evidently the dictate of wisdom and
sound philosophy. It is this : There are but two
mediums of belief, reason and authority. Authority
wliere it is infallible, renders the belief of mystery
rational ; and it is the attestation of the divinity of
catholicity. Reason, not being competent to un
derstand supernatural truths, excludes, of course,
when adopted as the rule of belief, the belief of
mysteries. Followed timidly, reason is the proof
of Socinianism. Followed boldly, it is the source
of deism. This is what, after thus noticing the
Bishop of Durham's illiberal notes, I shall proceed
to demonstrate.

It is with error as it is with vice, and with every
other principle of mischief -it is never stationary
and fixed. Error is sure to produce error; and
proceeding, always, from bad to worse, is sure,
in its progress, either to destroy some remaining
maxim of religion, or to add to the code of im-

TO SERMON II. 297

piety, some new maxim of irreligion. It is, some
times, at first, a gentle stream, which filtering in
sensibly through the mounds, which had restrained
it, gradually washes them away; and swelling soon,
by the reception of other streams, to a torrent, lays
waste and ravages the fields, the harvests, and the
smiling habitations of the cottager and the swain.
The latter part of this description is the picture of
Socinianism and deism. Socinianism soon produc
ed deism. Indeed, the distance between the two
systems is so trifling a mere step, at most that
deism appeared immediately after the introduction
of Socinianism. The deists have the candor to
make the Socinians the compliment of calling them
their masters : and, as Mosheim observes, the con
nection between the two societies is so obvious,
that not the most inexpert genealogist could mis
take their generation and close affinity. Prateolus,
and some other historians, call the deists a sect of
protestants. And, certainly, the incessant compli
ments which the deists and first reformers were
wont to pay each other, were almost alone sufficient
to give colour to Patreolus's supposition. At all
events, Socinianism is evidently the parent of deism;
as protestantism is the parent of Socinianism. The
difference between the two systems is not the dif
ference of any fundamental principles, nor any
difference in the manner of applying their prin
ciples; not any difference in the mode of reason-
38

298 ILLUSTRATIONS

ing, nor in the motives upon which they ground
their belief. The sole difference consists in the
deduction of a less or greater number of conclu
sions from the same antecedent from an antece
dent, which equally contains all their conclusions,
whether they be deduced or not. The following
is the mode of reasoning of these two systems and
indeed of protestantism also and points out the
resemblance and coincidence between these sources
of incredulity. Led by the maxim, that his reason
and his senses are the guides of faith, and that he
should believe nothing that appears repugnant to
their dictates, the protestant rejects some of the
mysteries of popery, transubstantiation, for ex
ample because his reason does not comprehend it,
or his senses penetrate it. Thus, does Archbishop
Seeker, and the late Bishop Porteus and, indeed,
the generality of protestants, reason upon this mys
tery; "If we cannot be sure" say the two former
prelates, "of wJiat our senses tell us, we can be sure
of nothing; our senses tell us, that no change of the
substance takes place in tJie papist mystery of the
Eucharist, therefore, no change does take place.--
Conducted by the same maxims, the Socinian dis
cusses the mysteries of protestantism ; and because
they are incomprehensible to his reason, and im
penetrable to his senses, he rejects them. Under
the influence of the same axioms, the deist ex
amines the tenets of Socinianism; and again, ex-

TO SERMON II. 299

actly, for the same motives as the above, because
he does not understand them, he places them upon
the list of errors. Thus is deism a small extension
of Socinianism, as Socinianism is the extension of
the general system of protestantism. The princi
ples, the basis, the reasoning, the motives, the
evidences, are in each system, precisely similar.
And if the protestant rule of faith be true, that
reason is the arbiter of belief, and should believe
nothing which it cannot comprehend, why is not
deism, which only applies this rule to a greater va
riety of objects than the protestant and the So-
cinian, but to objects to which it is equally ap
plicable, as it is to those to which they refer it -
why is not deism the most consistent of all these
systems ?

As an elegant elucidation of this important ques
tion, and, indeed, of whatever almost I have said,
respecting the tendency of protestant principles
I will here subjoin a few reflections of the eloquent
French Academician Gaillard, in his life of Francis
the first.

" The human mind," says Gaillard, u admits
only two arbiters of belief reason and authority.
One of the most noble functions of reason is to feel
its own impotence, and the want in which it stands
of a guide to conduct and help it. In matters of
religion, reason does not reach beyond the bounda
ries of natural religion. Mysteries being placed out

300 ILLUSTRATIONS

of its sphere, surpass its comprehension ; and, there
fore, if it admit them, it admits them only as objects
of faith, decided by divine authority. Reason, it is
true, conducts to this authority, by proving, in the
first place, that it is necessary; and secondly, by
evincing, that it should possess those marks and evi
dences, by which it cannot be mistaken. Thus, re
ferred by reason to authority, we penetrate under
its unerring guidance into the dogmas and mysteries
of revelation ; and enter into the regions and empire
of faith. If the unbeliever reject these dogmas and
mysteries, merely because he does not understand
them, I consider him a daring madman, who re
quiring t\vo guides, obstinately persists in taking
only one; and one too, which admonishes him
incessantly to take another, and another surer than
itself. He errs, because he gives too much to rea
son; believing nothing beyond the sphere of his
own weak and contracted understanding. How
ever, he is in this, neither inconsequent nor ab
surd : at least, he is not inconsequent and absurd, in
the same degree as the reasoning theologian, who
owningthe inefficiency of reason, and the consequent
necessity of authority, and who, receiving dogmas
and mysteries, combats the authority, modifies the
dogmas, alters the mysteries, so that they still re
main mysteries, but cease to be supported upon the
basis of sufficient authority to render them the ob
jects of faith and veneration. Consistency and

TO SERMON II. 301

wisdom, then, should reason in this manner : If
nothing ought to be believed, but what reason
comprehends if it be false, that reason itself ad
monishes us to obey the injunctions of authority,
then, it is certain, that it is necessary to reject all
mysteries entirely, and all the dogmas of revela
tion; it is reasonable even to allow, that the in
credulity of the unbeliever is wiser than the faith
of the believer. But if reason be too feeble to
conduct us in the paths of truth, and authority be
necessary to lead us securely in them, then it be
comes criminal to change the oracles of such au
thority ; and it is our duty, without restriction or
modification, to adore the mysteries which it pro
poses and enforces. It is certainly, profane in
man to change or touch the work of God. Where
fore, when Luther, for example, proposes to me
to substitute consubstantiation in the room of tran-
substantiation, to what tribunal does he refer me ?
To authority? But authority is completely against
him. To reason? But reason understands as
little of consubstantiation, as of transubstantiation.
When another reasoning dogmatist tells me, that
Christ is present in the Eucharist by faith, I ask
him, what he means by a presence by faith? Either
Christ is present, or he is not present. If he be
not present, then my faith cannot render him pre
sent ; and, of course, I do wrong to believe him
present. If he be present, then my faith has no-

30'2 ILLUSTRATIONS

thing to do with bringing him there ; and he is
equally present, whether I believe it, or believe it
not. And, where then is the wisdom of your
reasoning? If you do not emancipate my reason ;
if you still leave it subjected to a yoke, let this
yoke be, not the profane one which you hold out,
but one that is sacred and divine. Mystery for
mystery I am not able to believe any mystery,
which is not proposed to me by a competent au
thority. You undertake too much, and too little.
Either retrench nothing, or retrench all, that rea
son does not understand ; if reason itself can assent
to such retrenchment. The deist wanders further,
it is true, from the paths of salvation, than you
do. But he is also nearer re-entering the paths
of salvation, than you are. His mode of reasoning
is more rational and consistent ; and let him only
once feel the necessity of authority to direct him,
he will yield implicit submission to its directions,
without any of those ridiculous reservations, which
modify your creeds. Such is the point of view,
in which wisdom contemplates the vague opinions
of heresy, and those unphilosophic alterations,
which Luther, Calvin, and the reformers have
thought proper to intrude into the doctrines of the
church."*

* In another part of the work he makes the following simi
lar observations :

" If there be not in the church any liviog and infallible

TO SERMON II. 3Q3

I have then, I think, made it pretty manifest,
that protestantism is the parent of deism. It only
remains for me to shew, also, although it is almost
needless for me to do it, such is its evidence
that deism is the parent of nearly every other spe
cies of infidelity, from Pyrrhonism, through irnma-
terialism, to the monster of impiety, atheism. The
circumstance is so true, that the authors of the Great
Encyclopedia, -and who are, perhaps, the most
competent of all judges upon this subject -remark,
that when once the mind has adopted the creed of
deism, "it soon and inevitably adopts the still more

authority, then it is evidently right, that each one should
believe, exactly, what he pleases. Be Sabellian, Arian, Nesto-
rian, Eutychian, Lutheran, or Calvinist. Be deist, if deism be
more agreeable to your reason. Every thing, in such case,
is allowed you, because no one has the right to censure
or control you. But, if in the church, there be a living and
infallible authority, then, disbelief, or liberty, is no longer a
thing of choice. The unreserved belief of her doctrines^ in
such case, is necessary."

"In religion, one of these two points is necessary ; either
with the catholic to acknowledge an infallible authority, which
decides upon questions, without appeal ; or with the deist,
to consider and admit reason as the sole arbiter of opinior.
There is no medium between the two ; and therefore, upon
this question, there is no consistent man, who is not either
a catholic or a deist: he can discover no other resource; or
as Gaillard expresses it: un esprit consequent n'appercoit pas
un tiers parte."

304 ILLUSTRATIONS

dreadful code of atheism." They ground their
remark, both upon the nature of deism, and the
testimony of experience, for experience shews,
that nearly all who had once professed the doctrines
of deism, terminated the career of their errors by
professing those of atheism. In reality, the distance
between deism and atheism is extremely short a
mere step although it be a step down the preci
pice of the deepest of all abysses ; and the motives
which urge the deist to take that step, while simi
lar, in reason, to those which induce the protestant
to become Socinian, and the Socinian deist, are,
on the side of passion, most eloquent and persua
sive. Passion, there is no doubt, is a great source
of atfieism. But passion apart, it is obvious, that
the mere principles of deism would alone conduct
the deist to the impiety of atheism. The principles
of deism are merely these, that reason is the arbiter
of belief; and that it should believe nothing which
it does not comprehend. The deist applies these
principles to the religion of nature; and he dis
covers, that it has its mysteries, as well as revela
tion; and that the same objections, which apply
to the latter, are applicable to the former; conse
quently, he concludes, that if he have been con
sistent in rejecting the latter, because he did not
understand it, he has no other alternative, if he
wish to continue consistent, but, in like manner,
to reject the former. And certainly, reasoning

TO SERMON il. 305

Upon those dreadful principles, who will say, that
he reasons unphilosophically? Whoever admits a
principle, which excludes all mystery, is reduced,
if he will reason and act upon it, to admit and
adopt the consequences which it contains; and,
therefore, to discard and reject every scheme and
system of religion, which includes the belief of
mystery. Atheism is the natural result of such
principle the last link in the chain of reasoning,
which not only the passions and prejudices of the
deist, but his philosophy and consistency append
very easily to it. I conceive every thing horrible
included in the pernicious principle, that a man
should only believe what his reason can understand,
and his senses penetrate.*

* I have in my illustration, like many other writers, de
nominated the successions of infidelity the genealogy of infi
delity, appearing to consider each preceding form of incre
dulity, as the parent of that which succeeded it. Such idea,
though general, is not correct. For, although, it is true,
that the generation of infidelity was progressive, yet was it
not exactly the preceding infidelity, which was the parent of
the subsequent infidelity. Each earlier form of impiety
contributed, if you please, to the generation of that which
soon succeeded it. But the sole parent, in reality, of the
whole offspring of infidelity, is the leading maxims of the
reformation, that belief is free, and that reason should be
lieve only what reason comprehends. The profa/ieness of
the Socinian, the impiety of the deist, the irreligion of the
atheist, each grow, not upon each other, nor as grafts upon
each other's error?, but as the natural and genuine offspring
39

306 ILLUSTRATIONS

I said, in the third place, that the principles of
the reformation, besides being the sources of infi
delity, have been acknowledged such by many
protestant writers, and are considered such by the
school of incredulity itself. I have, indeed, al
ready produced in the series of my illustrations, se
veral attestations from Mosheim, sufficient to con
vince the reader of the truth of the first part of
my assertion attestations, in which that learned,
though partial, historian, acknowledges, that "there
prevails among tlie various sects of the reformation,
the most latitudinarian principles and impious
doctrines" "Many protestant writers," says Kett,
"in his View of the Prophecies, addressed the infi
dels in a style of compliment upon their discern
ment; quitted the strong holds of scripture doc
trine advanced to meet them upon their own
ground, and argued upon what they called tJie prin
ciples of natural religion solely. They granted
that faith depends, not upon the will, but the un-

of this maxim. " Whatever," says Bayle, "/ either believe
or disbelieve,! believe and disbelieve upon the principles of pro
testantism; and I consider my self, "he one day said toPolignac,
"as the most rational of protestants, because led by protestant
principles,! protest, equally, against all systems and all sects."
Hence, instead of calling the successions of infidelity the ger~
nealogy of infidlitty, I had, perhaps, better have termed them
the chronology of infidelity; giving them all one common pa
rent, and making them differ only in age, imperfections, and
deformity.

TO SERMON II. 307

derstanding; that when the evidence for the truth
of any proposition is full and clear, it constrains
assent; but that no blame is imputable for rejecting
a proposition, for which the mind can see no evi
dence; and that we are not called upon to believe
what we cannot comprehend."

Let me, on the occasion of these words, just,
en passant, remark to his Lordship of Durham,
that if, indeed, there exist a striking parallel be
tween popery and Socinianism, because the papist
and the Socinian pay each other a few mutual com
pliments upon their modes of reasoning, what a
much more striking parallel is there here acknow
ledged between protestantism and infidelity a pa
rallel, not consisting in mere reciprocal compliments,
but in similar principles, and similar reasoning, and
similar conclusions! Here, the parallel lines are
bold, prominent, and tangible. Surely, even his
lordship would own it, if his mathematical notions
are not singularly inverted, that, if indeed "popery
and Socinianism be parallel," although their prin
ciples and conclusions be, in every respect, unlike
merely on account of a few unmeaning compli
ments, then are protestantism and infidelity very
"strikingly parallel," which to the tribute of com
pliments, add parallel principles and parallel con
clusions.

In the same manner that Kett acknowledges,
that the protestants reasoned upon the grounds of

308 ILLUSTRATIONS

infidelity, he also candidly owns, that the infidels
reasoned upon the grounds of protestantism. "We
must observe," he says, "that infidelity masked
itself with many of the principles which gave birth
to, or at least brought forward, the reformation."
Hence, he allows, as Robison does also, with
several protestant writers, that "most of the inno
vations and impious doctrines, which were circulat
ed, particularly throughout Germany, and in gene
ral through all the kingdoms of Europe, were the
"work of protestant divines.' 1 '' Speaking of pro
testantism in Germany, and of the too obvious
effects of protestant principles, Robison says, with
great truth, and with much good sense, "The
catholics accused the protestants of infidelity,
respecting the fundamental doctrines of Chris
tianity, which they professed to believe; and
even with respect to the doctrines of natural
religion. This accusation was long very slight
ly supported; but, of late, by better proofs. The
spirit of free inquiry was the great boast of the
protestants, and their only support against the ca
tholics. It was, therefore, encouraged by their go
vernments. It was not to be wondered at, that it
should be indulged to excess, or improperly, even
by serious men, liable to error, in their disputes
with the catholics. In the progress of this contest,
even their own confessions did not escape criticism;
and it was asserted, that the reformation which

TO SERMON II. 309

those confessions express, was not complete. Fur
ther reformations were proposed. The scriptures,
the foundation of faith were examined by cler
gymen of different capacities, dispositions and views;
till by explaining, correcting, allegorizing, and other
wise twisting the bible, men's minds had hardly any
thing left to rest on, as a doctrine of revealed reli
gion. This encouraged others to go farther; and
to say, that revelation was a solecism; as plainly
appeared by the irreconcilable differences among
those enlighteflers (for so they were called) of the
public; and that man has nothing to trust to, but
the dictates of natural reason. Another set of
writers, proceeding from this, as a point already
settled, proscribed all religion whatever; and open
ly taught the doctrines of immaterialism and athe
ism. Most of these innovations were the ivork of
protestant divines, from tlie causes that I have men
tioned"* What a luminous illustration of what I
have been proving in the series of this note, re
specting the natural consequences and effects of
protestant principles ! With the same candor, Robi-
son acknowledges and so also does Kett that
the poison which flowed through different king
doms, was almost entirely circulated "by the indus
try of protestant printers, with the permission of
protestant governments." "The great infidel aca
demy," he says, "in the principality of Anhalt Des-

* Robison, Proofs of Conspiracy.

310 ILLUSTRATIONS

sau, was conducted entirely by professed Lutherans
and Calvinists; for though destined," he adds, "for
catholics also, not a catholic would enter it."

But let us now observe, in what light the pre
tended school of philosophy is wont to consider
protestantism, and the professors of protestant prin
ciples. It is true, the philosophists do often re
proach the protestants with timidity in not follow
ing up their own principles; and with inconsistency
in their deductions; still they often compliment
them with the appellations of philosophers, and of
the parents of modern philosophy, they frequent
ly call them brothers; admitting the same princi
ples, and differing only in the hardihood and ex
tent of their application. I refer the reader to the
works of nearly any of our modern infidels. There
he will find, that while these men hurl the thun
ders of their eloquence, or point the artillery of
their wit at popery and the papist to protestantism
and the protestant, they are all liberality and com
mendation. They are lavish, in particular, of their
admiration and praises of this nation. They always
seem to look upon it, as a nation of philosophers.
"England is ours? was the ordinary expression of
their opinion, and confidence in its wisdom. "By
its aid," Voltaire used often to repeat, "we slwll
destroy Christianity." "England? he says, "and
Switzerland are over-run with men, who hate and
despite Christianity, like Julian himself" And

TO SERMON II. 311

Weishaupt, speaking of the reception which his
impieties met with in this country, remarks, "I
cannot help laughing, when I think of the rea
dy reception which my doctrines have met with
from the grave divines of England and Ger
many. I wonder how Williams failed, when he
attempted to establish a deistical worship in Lon
don ; for I am certain it must have been acceptable
to that learned and free people." It is, almost, in
similar terms, that these men speak of other pro-
testant principles in the propagation of philosophy.
D'Alembert, in pointing out the sources of what he
calls philosophy, places the great principle of pro
testantism as its leading maxim, and "the diffusion
of protestants" he adds, "is one of the causes of
its progress." Speaking of Geneva, he says, "In
Calvin's town, there are but a few shabby, beggar
ly fellows, that believe in Christ." Frederick, the
infidel king of Prussia, contemplating the propaga
tion of his favourite system, laments, that in catho
lic countries (it was the case at that period) it made
slow progress; but consoles himself, at the view of
its rapid diffusion in the protestant states, "/ft our
protcstant countries" he exultingly observes, "ice
go on briskly" But, the best of attestations of
the sentiments and esteem, which the school of phi
losophy entertained for protestantism and the pro
testant and of the aversion which it nourished
for catholicity and the catholic is the conduct of

312 ILLUSTRATIONS

the leaders of the late eventful revolution in France.
Their conduct is the forcible expression because
the expression of an immense body of these men
of the real and comparative estimation, in which
they held the principles and members of the two
communities. I hardly need to say it they not
only tolerated, they caressed protestantism! Catho
licity, they persecuted and laboured to destroy! So
that, here again again were I to reason, as does
his lordship of Durham, that "compliments prove
parallel systems;" how much more strikingly paral
lel, must even protestant partiality allow it, are the
protestant and infidel schools, than those of catho
licity and impiety. At all events, the above opi
nions of the philosophists demonstrate invincibly,
what, in the third place, I had asserted, "that they
considered the principles of protestantism as the
sources of incredulity, and the occasion of its diffu

sion."

Having thus conducted the reader through the
three positions which I had laid down, as the sub
ject of this illustration, I might here close it with
propriety. However, before I do it, I will return
a superficial answer to a calumny, which, of late,
has been frequently urged against our holy reli
gion; and urged too, with considerable asperity,
by the respectable prelate, to whom I have so often
alluded a calumny, which owes its origin to the
ingenuity of hostility; its propagation to malevo-

TO SERMON II. 313

lehce, and its belief to ignorance.- "It is the ab-<
surdity of popery," it is said, "which has given
occasion, if not to the generation, at least to much
of the growth and propagation of impiety:
the professors of that superstition being induced to
contemplate its contradictions, abandoned it with
contempt, to take up the apparently more rational
creeds of deism and infidelity." It is not my de
sign even to pause here, to shew the futility and
falsehood of these assertions; or to prove, that there
is nothing absurd in the creed of popery. Our
creed is absurd only to those who do not know it;
and who have not studied the nature and tendency
of its doctrines absurd to those, whose reason is
the dupe of passion, and who feel it inconvenient
to observe its dictates. But this is what I contend,
in answer to the above objections, that if indeed
the absurdity of a creed be one of the causes of in
fidelity, then have some of the protestant creeds
the creeds even of those men, whom the protestants
revere, as "the envoys of heaven, and the organs
of truth" the fairest claims to the dreadful pre
eminence of having most largely contributed to
its diffusion. It is to the credit of protestants, in
general, I have before remarked, that notwith
standing their enthusiasm in praising the apostles of
the reformation, they have the pious inconsistency
to reject many of their tenets, and the virtue to
detest several of their maxims. As for some of
40

314 ILLUSTRATIONS

the multifarious creeds of the reformation, I am
sure the question would not be contested, that
there are among them several absurd and impious,
in the extreme- absurd and impious as aught that
is recorded in the long dark annals of folly and
fanaticism, of superstition and incredulity. I will
not, however, appeal to these. Of these, some,
I hope, have become obsolete from tbpir absurdity ;
some have, now, only perhaps a few deluded fana
tics for their admirers. It is to the creeds of the
great apostles of the reformation that I confidently
appeal, for the proof of my assertion; which even
I, with equal confidence, conceive I shall establish
by producing, not the whole creeds, but a few
specimens only of their various doctrines. The
reader who wishes to form an adequate and perfect
ly correct idea of the tenets of these men should
consult their writings. Luther teaches, for exam
ple, that ''free will is an empty name, and that
man sins mortally, when even he does his best :" *~
he asserts, that "God works in us both good and
ew/;"f he maintains that, "God damns tlwse who
have not deserved damnation;"^ he says, "where
tlie scriptures command us to do works, they forbid
us to do good works; because we cannot do J/iem."
Similar to these are many of the doctrines of
the apostle Calvin. He, too, teaches- that "God

* De Captiv. Bab. | De Cap. Bab. J De Cap. Bab. Tom. 3.

TO SERMON If. 315

created the greatest part of Hie world, in order that
lie might damn them" L. dc Praed. He makes
God "tlie author of all sin" L. de Pr^ed. He
affirms, that "all sins are mortal;" and that, "tlic
best of our works deserve damnation" Id. The
above is not even an etching of their creeds.
But they are enough to evince this; that if indeed
the absurdity of any creed have, really, been the
cause of the growth of impiety, then should creeds,
like the above, or tenets like the above, have con
tributed, very largely, to its propagation. Indeed,
placing the above doctrines by the side of the doc
trines of atheism itself, I have no hesitation in
saying it: if good sense and piety had to deter
mine which is the most absurd and impious, they
would give the greater absurdity and impiety to the
doctrines of the two apostles: for it is better, .and
less irrational horrible and irrational as it is to
allow with the atheists, that there exists no God
at all, than with Luther and Calvin, to believe that
there exists a God, "who damns us without de
serving it, who damns us for our good works,
who created, in order that he might damn us; and
who, yet, is himself the author of all our sins, and
the cause of all our crimes!" Certainly, it is less
irrational to believe, that no God exists, than that
there exists an unjust one. "The former notion,"
Bacon observes, "is unbelief; the latter is con
tumely." And hence is the code of atheism less

316 ILLUSTRATIONS

absurd, than is that of the apostles of protestant
ism.

I do seriously recommend to the Bishop of Dur
ham, when next he attempts to demonstrate either
the parallel between popery and Socinianism or to
prove that popery is one of the causes of impiety
I recommend to him to study, more correctly than
he appeal's to have done, the principles of parallels,
and nature of popish doctrines. I think, that the
if his lordship's] mind be open to the irradiations
of wisdom, he will trace contrasts, where he now
traces parallels; and the sources of piety, where
now he traces the causes of corruption. I recom
mend him to modesty, at at! events, in his censures
of our doctrines; lest, since the doctrines of pro
testantism are themselves open to reproach, the
papist, too, should attempt to make out parallels,
and reverberate censure. I hope it is not true, that

Nescit redire, qui periit pudor.

I also recommend to Doctor B. and to every other
protestant, this final observation, which has more
analogy to the substance of this note, than the
above remark that if, under the guidance of the
leading maxim of the pretended reformation, its
apostles themselves great, good, learned, and holy
men! if they not only erred, but sunk into the
lowest abysses of impiety, how easy, how very

TO SERMON II. 317

easy it is to account for the errors of their follow
ers; who frequently are neither great, nor good, nor
earned, nor holy men; but who, equally with
their apostles, are allowed to follow the dictates of
their own opinion. And how easy, too, from the
errors of the followers of these men to account for
the growth of all subsequent impiety!

(K) PAGE 54.

On tfie inconsistency of protesiant creeds, $c.

By the constitution of the protestant religion,
I have often shewn it, every individual is the
judge and arbiter of his own belief himself a tri
bunal supreme and independent, to which alone,
in case of doubt, it is necessary to appeal, and by
whose authority alone, in case of appeal, the evi
dence of the question should be determined. As
for every other species of authority councils,
synods, jurisdictions, creeds these, by the most
solemn decree which the reformation ever made,
were declared to be the tyrant inventions and in
stitutions of popery, and the buttresses of super
stition fallible essentially, because human; and
the instruments of error, because directed by men,
whose interest it was to deceive. In short, that
there was not, at the period of the reformation,

318 ILLUSTRATIONS

that there is not, at the present period, any infalli
ble, living, speaking authority, capable of deter
mining the true sense of the holy scriptures, and
of chaining down the belief and opinion of the
faithful, is the first maxim of the reformation, and
the basis of the whole fabric of protestantism.
" Whoever" say Luther and Calvin, " believes
aught upon the decision of any exterior authority, be
lieves under the influence of mere prejudice"

It is here that I might a moment pause to re
mark how very widely protestant maxims differ
from protestant practice. Who would suppose,
that with maxims like the above, exploding coun
cils, creeds, and canons who would suppose,
that the protestant would not spurn every thing of
the nature? But who could suppose, that he
would lean his faith upon the very objects which
lie thus so solemnly rejects? Inconsistency is a
stale and common circumstance in the annals of
heresy; else would such contradictions as the
above excite astonishment. However, such was,
and such the case is, still. Scarce, by the noise
of invective, the captivating sounds of liberty, arid
the disingenuity of misrepresentation, had the con
ductors of the reformation detached the restless,
the violent, and the credulous from the authority
of the ancient church, but in imitation of all revo
lutionists, their next solicitude was to attach them
to themselves, and to cement the power which

TO SERMON II.

their boldness had created. The thing, as the ex
perience of every revolution shews it, is not so-
difficult. When once the passions of the vulgar
are roused, and perplexity is excited in their minds,
then is the moment for ambition and dexterity to
establish their dominion. The vulgar reason little;
and never govern themselves. Dreadful as the
lion and the tiger, to their supposed enemies, they
are tame and passive as the lamb, to the bold en
thusiast, who has the eloquence to seduce, or the
energy to command them. They are a flock which
he drives before him, blindly obeying the impulse
of his passions. Thus, revolutions, which always
begin under the specious name of reformations,
nearly always end in establishing a power more
arbitrary than that which it was their pretended
object to reform, and in establishing it, too, upon
the very platform, and with the very materials of
that which they had just before pulled down. The
reformers, I observed, had discarded the authority
of synods, councils, creeds, &c. as the buttresses
of tyranny, and the intrusions upon rational and
Christian liberty; but no sooner were they possess
ed of sufficient influence over the minds of their
followers, than, anxious to retain that influence,
or apprehensive of losing it, they began immediate
ly to call back and re-establish the mediums, which
by experience, they knew were calculated to sup
port it. They knew that synods, councils, creeds,

320 ILLUSTRATIONS

were of this description the sources of subordina""
tion, and the ties of unity, They, therefore, as-
sembled synods, called together consistories, form
ed creeds, canons, and various regulations. They
issued these as the laws and sanction of the Deity;
not merely proposing them to the veneration of the
public, but pressing them upon their acceptance,
and not only pressing, but forcing them upon
their acceptance obliging them even to swear to
their firm belief and sincere acquiescence in them.
This was the case in France, in Germany, in Hol
land, in Sweden, at Geneva, and almost in every
other state where protestantism had formed an estab
lishment.

In France, the synods obliged each minister to-
swear, that he believed all their decisions, and
would believe them till his death. Such were the
constitutions of the synod of Saumur, and of seve
ral others. The synod of Alet, in 1620, and that
of Cliarenton, in 1623, employed the influences
of their authority so imperiously, as to oblige all
ministers not only to subscribe, but to swear, that
they believed all the points of faith which had been
determined even by the foreign synod of Dort
The form of the oath was as follows: Ego N. N.
Juro et asscvero, in conspectu Dei et hujus sancti
conventus me recipere, approbare et amplecti om-
nes doctrinas propositas et decisas, in synodo Dord-
racina, utpote perfecte congruentes verbo Dei et

TO SERMON II. 321

ecelesiarum nostrarum confession!. Juro et pro-
mitto, me in harum doctrinarum professione, per
omnem vitam perseveraturum, eamque pro virili
parte defensurum, nee ab ea unquam vel prasdi-
cando, vel docendo, vel scribendo, recessurum
esse. Atque ita me Deus juvet; et mihi propitius
sit. Juro hasc omnia sine ambig uitate, equivoca-
tione, vel restrictione mentali. The above oath
should certainly appear an inconsistency, when it is
recollected, that the principle of faith in the French
churches, as well as in every other reformed church,
is the authority of private opinion. However^ in
the above oath, and in the decrees of all the synods
which I have mentioned, there is this to extenuate
the inconsistency, that at least, the doctrines
which they forced upon the belief of the ministers,
had been previously discussed, and solemnly deter
mined; consequently, that in believing them they
could from a judgment, whether or not they were
consonant to reason, or agreeable, in their notions,
to the dictates of the sacred scriptures. Well; but
behold now an inconsistency, which has not even
this, or any other meagre apology to extenuate it -
an inconsistency which is paralleled by nothing
but its indecency. Not only were the French
protestant clergy obliged to swear to decisions,
which their synods had already regulated, but in
some instances to decrees and creeds, which, so
far from being regulated, were not yet proposed,
41

322 ILLUSTRATIONS

nor perhaps even thought on ! It was the esta
blished rule, that whoever should attend the na
tional synod, or send a delegate in his room,
should, in either case, take an oath, " that he
would believe and embrace all the articles which the
synod should decree" The reader may consult the
acts of the synod of Rochelle, in 1607; of Ton-
neres, in 1617; of Gass et Vitre, in the same
year. In the synod of Vitre, the form of the oath,
which the members took previously to its decisions,
was this : " We promise in the sight of God, that we
will embrace all whatever this lioly assembly shall
conclude and determine ; and itith all our strength
we will labour to observe and execute it : since we are
fully convinced, that God will preside over its mem
bers by his Holy Sftirit ; and by the rule of his word,
conduct them into all truth and equity, for the salva
tion of his church.' 1 ''

And then, too, not only did these assemblies,
thus conducted, forsooth ! " into all truth and
equity for the salvation of the church" not only
did they exert the prerogatives of their jurisdiction,
in regulating and enforcing their fundamental te
nets, or those which distinguish them from the
parent church, they exerted them also, and in the
most arbitrary manner in a manner which hardly
their infallibility would have justified in respect
of very inferior objects, the trifling controversies
which subsisted among themselves, and insignificant

TO SERMON II. 323

points of discipline. In the former cases, of their
mutual controversies we find that often, in the
warmth or intemperance of their zeal, they excom
municated many of their most distinguished mem
bers ; and in the latter cascs-^--of the enactment or
enforcement of their points of discipline we trace
a measure of severity, which, at these times at least,
is rather calculated to awaken contempt, than
establish piety. They ordained, for example, that
whoever danced, taught dancing, or was present
at a dance; whoever painted, or wore false hair,
as an ornament whoever played at cards, used
dice, &c. &c. should, if they persisted in their
wickedness, be solemnly excommunicated. And
each pastor was obliged to swear, that he would zeal
ously enforce these important modes of discipline.

It is useless for me to point out in each distinct
establishment the methods which the political,
much more than religious wisdom of their members
deemed it necessary to employ, in order to main
tain, professedly, the purity and unity of faith, but,
in reality, their newly acquired authority. These
methods were, indeed, every where very strikingly
alike everywhere resembling the constitutions and
provisions which I have just delineated. Oaths, sub
scriptions, tests, &c. were the ties which linked the
clergy to each other, and to their respective institu
tions; while censures, excommunications, and ana
themas awed the vulgar, either to belief, to silence,

324 ILLUSTRATIONS

or to fear. The Lutherans, according to Mosheim,
were compelled to conform to Luther's catechism,
to the hook of concord, and symbolic books. The
Calvinists, as I have shewn was the case in France,
every where beheld the sin of disbelieving Calvin-
istic tenets hung round with all the terrific horrors
of damnation. Yes, and not even where the hor
rors of damnation, and all the spiritual provisions
which I have mentioned, considered sufficiently
powerful to preserve unimpared the integrity of
the new codes of faith, or to keep inviolate the
respectability of the upstart pastors. Recourse was
had, Mosheim allows and laments it, to arguments,
which experience proves are far more efficacious
with the generality of mankind to corporal punish
ments, to exiles, to imprisonments, and in some
cases, even to death. By these severe methods,
the Lutherans enforced the formulary of union
drawn up at Berg and Turgaw. The unfortunate
Crellius was put to death, and fell the victim to
the piety or imprudence of favouring the contrary
doctrines. So, also, it was at Geneva, under the
immediate jurisdiction of the mild apostle Calvin.
He, under the pain of the most awful censures,
obliged his deluded followers to believe his tenets ;
and as the Lutherans treated Crellius, condemned
Servetus to the stake, because he had not the good
sense to believe as he did.

TO SERMON II. 325

It is a fact, that few protestants know the
principles of protestantism; as it is, equally a fact,
that hardly any follow them. Did the protestant
give himself the trouble to study the nature of his
own principles, or if knowing them, did he only
superficially remark their bearings, he would be
reduced to own could an honest confession be ex
torted that the facts and circumstances which I
have cited, are palpable contradictions both to
their nature and their bearings. To proscribe the
influences of authority, as acts of tyranny, and yet,
instantly recal them to buttress the very establish
ment which proscribed them to condemn synods,
&c. as the schools of superstition, and yet, immedi
ately after, proclaim them the organs of the Holy
Ghost to discard creeds as the violations of Chris
tian liberty, and yet, every where, employ them as
the instruments of control to declare the scriptures
the sole rule of faith, and the sole depositum of reli
gion; their sense, plain, palpable, and easy; and
the reason of each individual their best interpreter,
and yet, in every place, superadd new codes and
new confessions; at every period introduce new
interpretations, and intrude them upon the cre
dulity of the public if this be not violation
of consistency, and the opposition of protestant
practice to protestant principle, let wisdom say,
what then consistency and contradiction mean.
The re is even an indecency of contradiction in all

3*26 ILLUSTRATIONS

this, which is equalled only by the indecency of
the solemnity, with which these contradictions were
enforced.

The mere circumstance of contradiction in an
interest so vitally important as that of religion, is a
serious, awful consideration. It proves invincibly
that the men and the institutions that were guilty
of it, were not under the guidance of that Holy
Spirit, whose movements and ways are all con
sistency and wisdom. But the manner, also, I have
remarked, ia which the contradictions of the re
formers were enforced, was perhaps more grossly
indecent than the contradictions themselves." They
are, indeed, not only a mockery of the principles
of the reformation, but of the principles too of
religion. By the fundamental principles of the
reformation, so often cited, all assemblies of men,
however composed, or however wise and holy may
be their characters, are fallible ; and, just like in
dividuals, liable to error. The consequence is
and it is an obvious consequence that their deter
minations cannot form a fixed basis of belief, nor be
the foundation upon which piety can repose ia un
disturbed security. The determinations of fallible
men may, because they are also fallible, be false,
foolish, impious, or absurd. That they have often
been such, will be acknowledged by whoever is
acquainted with the history of protestant conven
ticles or protestant creeds. Hence, if with such

TO SERMON II. 327

principles, and under such circumstances, it be in
consistent and improper even to propose such de
terminations, as systems of faith to the public ac
ceptance, how great ought to appear and is the
inconsistency and impropriety, not merely to pro
pose, but force them upon their acceptance and
force them too, by methods the most powerful that
human policy, and the most impressive, that reli
gion know? This, at all events, is reducing men
to swear, or acknowledge, that they believe that to
be true and divine, which, by the most fundamental
of their maxims, they acknowledge ma?/, at least, be
false or impious. And, what is this, but sporting with
the sacred solemnity of an oath? To my notions
and perceptions of decorum, there is nothing that
can justify either the power that compels, or the in
dividual who suffers himself to be compelled, to take
an oath, but the evidence and conviction, that
what he swears is certain. In the case, therefore,
of religion, what alone could justify the establish
ment which exacts, or the individual who gives
the sacred pledge of an oath, that he believes any
form of faith to be divine, is the infallibility of the
power which dictates such form ; and in the indivi
dual who swears to it, the acknowledgement of
such infallibility. The oath is at best rash, which
has not certainty for its guide and this certainly,
in regard of faith, infallibility alone can give. It is
so in the catholic church; what alone justifies the

328 ILLUSTRATIONS

catholic church for obliging her members to believe
her tenets, or excuses her members for believing
them, is the assurance of her infallibility. Take
that away, and you take away her right to control
belief- you render her attempt to control belief
an act of tyranny you render any oaths by which
her members attest their belief of her doctrines,
very heinous acts of disrespect to the Divinity. For,
I repeat it, it is wrong for any individual to swear,
as it is wrong to oblige him to swear, that aught
is true, which very possibly, or very probably, may
be false--it is disrespectful to the Deity to invoke
his sacred name in attestation of the firm belief and
pious veneration of a tenet, which perhaps may be
nonsense, perhaps impiety. And, hence I con
clude, on the principles of reason and religion,
that since the protestant establishments possess no
absolute certitude, that the doctrines which they
teach are true -since they can impart no conviction
of such certitude to their members, it is wrong in
the former to require, and wrong in the latter to
give the awful attestation of an oath, that they
venerate them as divine; while, as I have shewn
also, both are repugnant to the maxims of the re
formation.

In this country, the establishment does not exact
from its clergy the testimony of an oath, that they
believe its tenets. It exacts only a subscription of
its creed. This creed is contained in its thirty-nine

TO SERMON II. 329

articles articles comprehending a great multipli
city of subjects the whole, or nearly the whole
variety of tenets; which are supposed to have been
revealed, along with many moral obligations, me
taphysical speculations, and intricate and obscure
opinions. These, all, who are admitted into or
ders, are required by law to subscribe, declaring
that they conscientiously, and ex ammo, believe the
doctrines which they contain.

It is not mine to determine what may be the
difference between an appeal which is made to the
Divinity under the formulary of an oath, and the
attestation which is made under the solemnity of a
subscription. Certain it is, that a very considera
ble portion of the establishment men of great
talents, piety, and erudition, have considered them
as synonymous, or nearly synonymous things.*
While, indeed, it is equally certain, that another
portion of the establishment, and men too of equal
talents and erudition, have given a latitude of in
terpretation to the act of subscription, which takes
from it not only the moral tie of any thing like an
oath, but leaves the subscriber the same liberty of
opinion, as if he had not subscribed at all. Feel
ing, as every consistent protestant must do, that

* "The articles," says Dr. Prcttyman (now Tomlin) are to be
subscribed in their plain and obvious sense, and assent given to
to them simply and unequivocally, e/se, Ike subscriber incurs
the wralk of Gorf." Elen. vol. 2d.

42

330 ILLUSTRATIONS

whatever stints the freedom of belief is a viola
tion of protestant principles, these gentlemen, with
more ingenuity I think than piety, have devised a
variety of shifts and evasions, in order to reconcile,
as they imagine, the maxims of the reformation
with the obligations and forms of the subscription.
"The articles," they say, "are mere articles of
peace; which a man may subscribe without be
lieving them, provided he teach nothing that is
contrary to them." "They admit," these rea-
soners add, "such great variety of interpretation,
that it could never have been the design of the great
and good men who originally framed them, to fetter
down reason to believe them in one sense only
never their intention to tyrannize over liberty, &c.
&c." There is hardly in the annals of casuistry,
and sophistic subtility, aught more artful than the
arguments which these gentlemen have employed
to reconcile the necessity of subscription with the
liberty of belief- -that is, to prove that a man may
solemnly attest, that he unfeignedly, and ex aninw,
believes what he really, and from his soul disbe
lieves! Does not such logic suggest to the mind
the feeling of something more analagous to its ideas
of worldly philosophy, than to its notions of Chris
tian piety?

If, therefore, as the piety and good sense of a
multitude of the establishment suppose if the for
mality of subscribing its articles imply an obligation

TO SERMON II. 331

df believing them, then, of course, the system of
subscription is a system of control; and the sub
scriber is just as much chained to the belief of the
tenets which he subscribes, as the catholic is tied to
believe the doctrines of catholicity. I see only this
difference between them but it is a difference
which should appear very humiliating to the pro-
testant that whilst the catholic is tied to the belief
of tenets, which he is confident are true, because
they are recommended to him by an authority, which
he is confident is infallible the protestant subscri
ber, on the contrary, is fettered to the belief of
tenets, which he acknowledges may, perhaps, be
false, because they are recommended to him by
men, who, he owns, were exposed to error; and he
is fettered to believe them, too, in opposition to the
strongest principle of his own religion.

It is not mine to stand forward the defender of
protestant principles, nor mine to direct the pro
testant how to act up to his principles with con
sistency. However, in this illustration, I have, in
reality, done both I have defended protestant
principles against their violations by protestant po^
licy, and I have shewn the protestant, that his ap
peals to the Divinity, both on the score of his prin
ciples, and the score of the impropriety of attesting
what he owns may not be true, are inconsistent,
dangerous, and indecorous things. I might add,
too, that in regard of the appeal which is made to

33*2 ILLUSTRATIONS

the Divinity by the subscription of the 39 articles,
were tFiere no other objection to this solemn action
but the obscurity and inaccuracies of these articles,
these circumstances alone should stay the hand, or
awe the tender conscience from subscribing them.
Besides the truth of the thing, which we attest in
all appeals to the Divinity, the sense, meaning, and
import of what we attest, ought also to be tolerably
understood. As it is wrong to attest what is false,
so it is almost equally wrong at least, it is disre
spectful to attest what is ambiguous. The sub
scriber of the 39 articles, says Doctor Prettyman,
whom I have just cited, "incurs the tvrath of God,
if he do not assent to them simply and unequivocally,
and subscribe them in their plain and obvious sensed
Now, the case is, the 39 articles are obscure, im
penetrably obscure, even to the most penetrating
understanding. The volumes, which have been
written to explain them, and the infinite varieties
of explanation, which these volumes present, make
this only "plain and obvious," that they have
no " plain obvious sense." The great Doctor
Balguy says of them,- and a multitude of other
protestant writers, make nearly the same complaint
- that " they contain ambiguities and inaccura
cies, some things unphilosophical, and some things
that may mislead ami draw men into erroneous opin
ions"* Surely, the mere circumstance of this am-

* " They who contend," says Paley, " that nothing less
can justify subscription, than the actual belief of each and

TO SERMON II. 333

biguity, inaccuracy, and imperfection should alone
withhold the mind from " assenting simply and une
quivocally" to them. But to be obliged to assent,
"simply and unequivocally" to them, whereas there
is little in them that is simple and unequivocal to
be obliged to subscribe them " in their plain and
obvious sense," whereas their sense is often unintel
ligible and above all, to " incwr," as Dr. P. asserts,
" the wrath of God" for not doing it in such
manner if this be not unbecoming, let wisdom say
what is!

Had I no other objections to the 39 articles, but
what Doctor Balguy states, that they are ambigu
ous and inaccurate, that they contain unphilosophi-
cal things, and things that may draw men into erro
neous opinions, these circumstances alone to my
reason appear serious motives, why it is wrong in
the establishment itself to propose them to the pub-

cvery separate proposition contained in them, must suppose,
that the legislature expected the consent of 10,000 men, and
that, in perpetual succession, not of one controverted propo
sition, but of many hundreds. It is difficult to conceive, how
this could be expected by any who observed the incurable
diversity of opinion upon all subjects, short of demonstrca-
tion." Moral Phil.

It was owing to the multitude of and obscurity of the pro
positions contained in the 39 articles, that Sterne used to
say : " It is indeed possible, that all the articles may be be
lieved; one man believing one, another believing another,
and so on ; but no single man was ever fool himself enough
to believe them all."

334 ILLUSTRATIONS

lie veneration why it is wrong to oblige its clergy
to believe them why it is doubly wrong to oblige its
clergy to teach them and in the clergy them
selves, wrong to accept such obligation. The ob
ligation of believing and teaching the 39 articles,
as it prevents all alteration in them, is repugnant
to their improvement, and repugnant therefore,
as they are acknowledged to be imperfect, to the
progress of truth; and injurious, for the same rea
son, to the protestant community. Why forbid
the improvement of what is acknowledged to be
imperfect ; and why forbid the improvement to the
very men, who from their talents and erudition, are
best calculated to make improvements?

I think this then evident, that if appeals to the
Deity impose obligations- if the appeal, that I be
lieve such and such doctrines imply the supposition
and the duty, that I really do believe them, then
is every protestant, who has made such appeals,
whether it be under the form of an oath, or of a
subscription, bound to believe the tenets, to which r
under these awful circumstances, he has testified
his assent. The generality of my readers, who
have wisely appreciated the nature and obligation
of oaths, will, I am sure, on this part of the subject
conceive as I do.

And who then can reconcile the dreadful obli
gations of oaths and subscriptions, with the princi
ples and liberty of the reformation? Who can

TO SERMON II. 335

reconcile the solemn attestation of believing any
code of faith with the freedom of disbelieving it
with an obligation even of disbelieving it, if the in
dividual please, paramount to the obligation of
believing it? And yet such is the case, as I have
often shewn it, in the series of these illustrations,
in the protestant communities. Along with their
oaths and subscriptions, and the obligations of
oaths and subscriptions; along witli the threats of
damnation, and of "incurring the wrath of God,"
for not believing what these oaths and subscriptions
attest along with all these awful and binding
things, they still not only tolerate, but admit the
widest liberty of dissent; teach that faith is uncon
trollable, and that the reason of the individual is the
sole arbiter of his belief a tribunal superior to
every other. Et sentire qiife veUt, ct quce sentiat
loqm is the real religion, as Doctor Watson says,
of the protestant. "We must feel" says this can
did man, "the necessity of vindicating to every in
dividual of the human race, the absolute light ofivor-
shipping God in his own ivay." "If you ask me,"
says the learned protestant author of the Discourse
concerning a judge of Controversy , "if you ask,
whose judgment ought to take place, the judg
ment of the church, or of every private Christian?
I answer, the judgment of the church, as to ex
ternal government. But when the question is,
what is right or wrong; true or false; iu what we

336 ILLUSTRATIONS

may obey, and in what not here, every private
Christian must judge for himself; and 'tis as
much as his soul is worth to judge right," Thus
too, does Dr. Prettyman, in the words which I
have cited in another place, define the nature of
protestant liberty. "It is" he says, "//w? unali- ,
enable jmvilege of every Christian to form his own
religious opinions, and to worship God in the man
ner that appears to him most agreeable to the scrip
tures" But the circumstance is not even contest
ed if there be one principle of protestantism that
is sacred; one tenet, which it is heresy to call in
question, it is this, that faith is uncontrollable;
and to be wise and consistent, should be the
dictate of private judgment, resulting from private
discussion. Without making any further reflec
tions, on a subject which offers so much room for
reflection, I conclude, by merely saying; that if
the good sense of my reader can reconcile these
principles with the creeds of protestantism, and
with the oaths and obligations of believing them
mine cannot.*

*That infallibility, which the reader has seen assumed and
enforced by the foreign churches mentioned in this illustration,
was also assumed and enforced by the church of England. I
shall only notice the acts of the convocation in 1603. In them
the English protestant church, in defiance of the principles on
which she was founded, pronounces the sentence of excom
munication against all those who shall hereafter maintain the
following "wicked errors," viz: that the church of England

TO SERMON II.

337

(L) PAGE 56.

The insecurity of the protestant.

IT will not be denied, by whoever feels, though
even it be feebly, for the important interests of sal
vation, that the cheering sensations of confidence

does not teach and maintain the doctrine of the apostles; that
the form of God's worship in the church of England contain-
eth any thing in it that is repugnant to the scriptures; that any
of the nine and thirty articles are in any part superstitious or
erroneous, or such as may not with a good conscience be sub
scribed unto; that the rites and ceremonies of the church of
England are wicked, anti-christian, or superstitious; that the
form and manner of making and consecrating bishops, 8tc. con-
taineth any thing in it repugnant to the word of God.
The same sentence is also pronounced against every man who
shall hereafter separate himself from the communion of saints,
as it is approved by the apostle's rules in the church of Eng
land, or shall affirm that such ministers as refuse to subscribe to

I I

TO SERMON II. 339

so momentous an interest as that of religion, a con
viction that is both irrational and criminal.

The reason why in religion, conviction founded
upon wisdom, and security founded on such con
viction, are peculiarly necessary, is not only to
promote happiness, and to give composure to the
heart not only to inspire an interest for duty, and
an ardor in the practices of piety, but to give to
faith those other qualities which the nature of faith
requires. Religion is not a system of mere philoso
phy, the fabric of the fancy, or the suggestion of
human reason an object of conjecture, or a matter
of speculation. Founded upon the divine veracity,
and imparted to us by the divine authority, as the
essential rule of our belief, we must believe its doc
trines "without wavering," and venerate them with
out hesitation. Our faith, to be pleasing to God,
or beneficial to ourselves, must admit no doubt. It
is not enough to imagine, that what we believe is
true, we must know that it is true. The act of faith
which alone is consonant to the nature of -faith,-
must br> able, upon wise and rational motives, to
say, "lam convinced; lam sure; and in my convic
tion and certitude, I adore." Without such con
viction and certitude, neither the mind would
entertain a proper esteem for the doctrines of reli
gion, nor the heart a proper relish for the prac
tices of piety; neither reason would pay a sufficient
tribute to the divine authority, nor the understand-

340 ILLUSTRATIONS

ing sufficient deference to the divine veracity.
Faith would be without consolation, and devoid of
merit.

I lay down then these principles that security
is essential to human happiness, that rational con
viction is essential to security, and that the con
viction which faith requires, must be unwavering
and steady I lay down these principles as the
dictates of wisdom; and by the light of them, I
proceed to discuss and analyze the nature of pro-
testant security, of protestant conviction, and of
protestant faith. The thing, indeed, is hardly an
object either of discussion, or analysis. What is
then the basis of protestant security, the founda
tion of protestant confidence and to unite all in
one sentence the motive of protestant faith?
I answer the threefold interrogation by one word
Private opinion the bold conjecture, or the peculiar
inclination of each solitary individual. Et sentire quse
velit, et quae sentiat loqui, is the religion, says Dr. W.
whom I cite so often, of the protestant. The protes
tant is secure, is convinced, and believes, because his
own reason has decided that the system which he
adores is divine. Indeed, any other authority in
religion, beyond that of private opinion, is, in fact,
downright popery. Now who, when he considers
the weakness of human reason how easily it is
warped by prejudice, and misled by passion, who
can rationally suppose, that the opinion formed

TO SERMON II. 341

under the suggestion of its dictates, can possibly
constitute the basis of wise security, the foundation
of wise conviction, and above all, the grounds
and motive of sanctifying faith? There is a pride
or rashness in such supposition, sufficient at the first
blush to evince its folly.

But let us now conceive a man to have formed
his religion, according to the principles of pro
testantism, and to have formed it, according to
the best methods which protestantism requires.
Let us conceive him to have read, studied, re
flected, and compared ; to have interrogated his
bible, his reason, his senses, and his imagination ;
and to have adopted the results and combinations
of all this discussion and comparison, for the code
of his belief. All this is strictly protestant, it is
acting precisely as the protestant, by his maxims,
is bound to act; and it is too, so necessary, that
whatever protestant does not act thus, is not a pro
testant according to the maxims of his religion.
Well; and suppose all this more than herculean
labour finished ; behold the patient man, who has
drudged thus arduously through it, sits down pos
sessed of a code of faith the genuine offspring of
protestant principles. I will not pretend to calcu
late (that is quite impossible) what it may
contain. As the rule which he Iras followed al
lows, and even bids, every individual be his ca
pacity, his judgment, his passions, his prejudices

34*2 ILLUSTRATIONS

and feelings what they may- --bids him form his
own belief, it will, of course, be a creed analo
gous to the nature and temperament of his
character different, it is natural to suppose, from
the creeds of Luther, Calvin, or the 39 articles.
It will be a peculiar creed a creed by itself. How^
ever, this is not the point. The creed thus formed,
was formed as it should be, according to the max
ims of the reformation ; and therefore, according
to the same maxims, it should also be venerated
and believed. Now, reason, I appeal to thy tri
bunal. Is it possible, that the man who has form
ed it, can seriously conceive it to be true can
calmly repose secure that it is divine can con
fidently trust his salvation to its dictates? Can
he reasonably, and without apprehension, say
and he must be able to say it to make an act of
faith, "the wJwle church lias erred, but I Jutve not.
The wisdom, the learning, and the piety of its pas
tors, and even the wisdom, learning, and piety of
every other establishment, have been deceived, but I
am not, TJie creed which I have composed is not on
ly probable (a probable creed is not a foundation of
faith) it is true; it is certainly true; I cannot be mis
taken, although all around me are deceived. " Why, the
very statement of such conduct is the proof of its pre
sumption ; and the proof of its presumption is the
refutation of the system which suggests it. And,
the whole process which I have described,

TO SERMON II. 343

with its deductions and conclusions, is the dictate
and result of the system of protestantism.

I have supposed, also, in the above description,
that the man who thus formed his creed, formed
it, as he imagined, upon the texts and authority
of his bible. In answer to this flattering and illu
sive argument, which is for ever and indeed con
sistently so in the mouths of protestants, let me
suggest the few following very plain remarks: that
the bible is in many places extremely difficult and
obscure that it is made the pretended basis, from
the circumstances of its difficulty and obscurity, of
every heresy and error, which have disgraced the
religion of Jesus Christ and that it admits from
the same causes, a variety of interpretations. From
these obvious reasons, it follows, I think pretty
evidently, that the man who has formed his code
of faith, even upon the authority of his bible
which is all that the wisdom of protestantism re
quires cannot in his own mind be rationally con
vinced, or in his heart peacefully secure, that his
own interpretation of the sacred volume is alone
the dictate of revelation. Faith, or religion, con
sists not in the words of the bible, but in the inter
pretation of the words not in the dead letter, but
in the sense, which the understanding affixes to the
letter.* Therefore, since the interpretation and

* Saint Jerome remarks, that if men were to interpret the
sacred scriptures, literally, nothing would be so easy as to

344 ILLUSTRATIONS

the sense, which our reasoner affixes to the words,
or to the letter, are different from those, not only
of the whole body of the church, but from those
too, of all the sects and sectarists that surround
him, it follows, either, that to feel himself secure
he should feel himself infallible, or that seeing his
opinion at variance with every other, he should con
ceive it presumptuous to believe it exclusively di
vine. His opinion, unless he be infallible, can at
best, appear but probable ; and he can only feel
secure, because he chooses foolishly to think that
he is so. This, at all events, is certain, that rea
soning, as himself would reason upon every other
subject, save that of religion- in the cases of
health, or worldly interest- -not only would he,
where his solitary opinion is opposed to the opinion
of many others, and of others, aboye all, more
learned and prudent than himself, not only would
he be diffident and distrustful, not only consider
the want of distrust and diffidence the effect of
pride, he would without hesitation, give up the
suggestions of his private judgment to adopt the
dictate of the general sentiment. But, the fact is,
what is deemed wise in every worldly transaction,
is condemned as foolish in religion.

form erroneous dogmas from them. One might easily
prove from them, for example, he adds, that no one should
be admitted into the church, who has shoes and two coats !
Dial. adv. Luc.

TO SERMON II. 345

I do not wish to cast aught like ridicule upon
the false security of the protestant : as it is both
the effect and the cause of prejudice and error, I
weep sincerely at it. Having, therefore, shewn,
that he cannot rationally conceive, that the creed
is divine, which he had formed by the rules of his
principles, I will shew also, that not even is Jw
certain of the divinity of those objects, which really
are divine, and, which he reveres, as the guides
and foundations of his faith. The protestant be
lieves the scriptures to be divine the full and in
fallible deposition of truth. He admits also at
least the English protestant admits, the decisions
of the four first councils, as the dictates of the
Holy Ghost. That he believes all this, is a cir
cumstance at which I rejoice, a circumstance
which is fortunate for religion, for society, and for
himself. And yet, I contend and I contend upon
the plea of protestant principles that fortunate
as is his belief, yet it has no better basis to repose
on, than that which I have already described, as
too feeble to support the strong fabric of wise con
fidence and calm security. He believes, that the
scriptures are divine the full and infallible deposi-
tum of religious truth ; and that the decisions of
the four , first councils are the dictates of the
Holy Ghost. As for the scriptures, in the first
place, let me ask him, by what authority he is
assured they are divine, and the full and infallible
44

340 ILLUSTRATIONS

deposit inn of religious truth? As he admits no in
fallible authority to interpret the sacred volumes,
so he admits no infallible authority to recommend
them. The admission of such authority, is repug
nant to every maxim of protestantism ; being the ad
mission of the catholic rule of faith and of tradition,
and equivalently, therefore, the admission of the
truth of catholicity. By what methods then can
he be assured of the divinity and infallibility of the
sacred scriptures? Does he know which books are
canonical, which are not ? He must know this to
be assured of either.* Does he know that the
versions which he reads ore accurate and conforma
ble to the sense of the originals from which they
are translated or, if he read the originals them
selves, does he know that they are authentic-
know that the text to which he affixes such inter
pretation, is genuine and uncorrupted?f He should

* Luther denied the canonicity of the three first gospels, as
serting, that St. John's is the only true one.

The first English translators of the bible denied that the
epistle to the Hebrews was written by St. Paul. They struck
his name out of the title. See the bibles of 1579 and 1580.

The protestants make no difficulty of maintaining, that
there is no authentic edition of the bible. They say this, in
the preface of the Figurine edition, and elsewhere. They
own, that the Hebrew and Greek texts are both, in many
places, vitiated.

| As for the protestant translations of the bible, behold
what the protestants themselves have remarked respecting

TO SERMON II. 347

know ail this to be assured of the divinity of the
sacred scriptures: His knowledge upon these im-

them. Zuinglius thus reproaches Luther with the infi
delity of that great apostle's version. " Thou corruptest, O,
Luther, the divine, word. Thou art an open and bold perver-
tcr of the sacred scriptures. Although hitherto we have es
teemed thee beyond measure, yet now we blush at thy prof an e-
ness," Zuing. ad Luth. Tom. Lib. de S. Such also is the opin
ion of many other protestants respecting this heresiarch's
translation. In like manner, by way of retaliation, it is true;
but the retaliation has truth for its apology does Luther
censure the translation of the sacred books by Zuinglius and
liis follow teachers. So gross is the infidelity of this transla
tion, that Luther calls Zuinglius and his coadjutors, "asses,
fools,anti-christs, impostors, fyc. fyc" The edition, which was
given by CEcolampadi.ua and the divines of Basil, is severely
reprobated by Beza. He calls it "wicked and quite repug
nant to the dictates of the Holy Ghost!" So, also, does he
condemn the translation by Castalio. "77 is," he says,
Saeri/igious, wick?d, and pagan." -As far Calvin's transla
tion, the learned Molinaeus says of it, o.r rather of the transla
tor; "J/g makes the text of the gospel leap up and down; he,
uses violence to the letter of the. gospel, and adds to the text."
He says the same also of Beza's translation rtlie translation
which the English were wont to follow Beza, he says, en
tirely changes the text. "--Indued," *'says Castalio, to, mention
all Besots corruptions of the scripture, would Jill a volume:"
so that there is not one of the ancient protestant translations of
the bible, which a host of protestants do not reprobate. I
have mentioned, already, Luther's translation, but let me
just add what Stapilus and Emserus remark of his Dutch
translation of the New Testament only, that they traced in it
u a thousand four hundred corruptions!"

In regard of our English versions, it would be easy to

348 ILLUSTRATIONS

portant subjects, should be various and extensive.
Episcopius says, he should be acquainted with the
Greek and Hebrew languages! Whitaker says, thai
without the knowledge of these languages he must
necessarily err*! However, I think, the protestant
will allow it since these are not the usual methods
by which protestants convince themselves of the
divinity of the scriptures, nor the methods by
which the occupied and the ignorant could convince
themselves of their divinity, it is not upon these,
that their security and confidence of their divinity
repose, Is it then from the general context, that
the protestant is assured of their divinity? But this

cite a multitude of learned protestants, who condemn them
even with indignation. In the address of the divines of
Lincoln to James the First, among other things, they say
"Our translation is absurd and senseless, perverting in many
places the meaning of the Holy Ghost." "How shall /,"
remarks Mr. Burgess, alluding to the necessity of subscribing
to its canonicity, " approve under my hand a translation which
has so many omissions, and many additions; which sometimes
obscures, sometimes perverts the sense, being sometimes sense
less, sometimes contrary." (Apol.) But what Broughton says,
in his letter to the lords of the council, and in his address to
to the bishops, is stronger still. "The public translation of the
scriptures into English," he tells them, "is such that it perverts
the text of the Old Testament in 848 places; and that it
causes millions of millions to reject the New Testament."
King James used to say, that he could never see a bible well
translated into English. See preface to Ward's errata.

* Necessario hallucinantur. Lib. de Sac- scrip.

TO SERMON II. 349

is a mere pelitio ptincipii,- begging the question,
and pretending to prove the divinity of some books,
by the same rule, by which others pretend to demon
strate the uncanonicity of other books.- Is it from
the sensations, which the beauty and sublimity of
the sacred writings excite in the minds and hearts
of those, who hear, or read them? Mere artifice,
originally, of the first reformers ; and subsequently,
the suggestion of enthusiasm and ignorance.*

* A protestant family (the anecdote is in Beurier) was one
day reading among themselves a book of piety. A neigh
bour a protestant also chanced to enter during the pious
lecture, and seating herself with them, attending seriously to
it. Having heard a few pages, she exclaimed, good God, hovr
beautiful, how easy it is to distinguish, that it is the spirit of
God which speaks. The spirit of God, said one of the fami
ly ! Why don't you reflect? What, answered the lady, is not
that the scripture? No, it was replied, it is a history. Ah r
then I am mistaken; I had imagined that it was the scripture.
The company, in general, made no further observation upon
the circumstance. But an individual who was present, made
a very natural one. Here, he said, is a person who has taken
a common history for the scripture; of course, the private
spirit cannot distinguish what is scripture and what is not;
therefore do our ministers deceive us, when they tell us that
our private spirit cannot deceive us in making the distinction
between truth and error. But, if they deceive us here, they
may deceive us likewise on other subjects; therefore, may our
religion be not the true one. I will get myself instructed.
Tie did so and abjured his error*'.

350 ILLUSTRATIONS

If the sensations which some men experience in
reading the holy volume, be the attestations of its
divinity, then are they also the attestations of every
heresy, which every fanatic has introduced.
Is it, because the scriptures themselves declare
that they are divine? "But" says Chillingworth,
"no imsc man mil assert, that tlie dirmity of a
writing can be known by itself alone;" or as Hook
er remarks, "it is confessedly impossible for the
scripture itself to teach what books of tlie scripture
we are to esteem holy." As well might the Mussul
man conclude, that the Coran is divine, because it
assures him that it is so Indeed to conclude with a
reflection created by the mention of the Coran
if the various motives and arguments were serious
ly compared together, by which the protestant is
induced to believe the divinity of the scriptures;
and those by which the Mussulman is induced
to venerate the supposed divinity of the Coran,
there would hardly be found one motive or argu
ment adduced by the former to prove the divini
ty of the bible, which might not, or is not, ad
duced by the latter to prove the divinity of the
Coran. The Mussulman appeals equally, as does
the protestant, to the context, to the beauty and
sublimity of his Coran, to his feelings, and to the
assurances which the holy volume frequently re
peats, that it is infallible and divine. In short,
setting aside, as the protestant does, the tradition

TO SERMON II. 351

and authority of the church, which has transmit
ted to him the sacred scriptures, and recommends
them as divine setting these aside, he has no
other assurance of their divinity, than what rests
upon the basis of a fortunate prepossession, or the
platform of an equally fortunate prejudice.

I have remarked, also, that the protcstants, at
least of this country, revere the four first coun
cils, and admit their decisions as the dictates of the
Holy Ghost. As a catholic, I also, of course,
bear the same veneration for these holy assemblies,
and their decisions. But, I again contend, as I
have done in regard of the sacred scriptures, that
the protestant, by the maxims of protestantism, has
neither sufficient proofs to establish the unerring
certitude of these decisions, nor sufficient motives
to stay the apprehension, that his confidence of
their certitude is not ill-founded and precipitate. In
deed, if it be true, that the protestant, by his
principles, has no absolute certitude of the divinity
of the scriptures, it will easily be admitted, that he
cannot possess such certitude respecting the truth
of the decisions of the four first general councils.
But, to ascertain this, by the tenor of protestant
principles The protestant, by his principles, can
not, to be consistent, believe that these decisions
are undoubtedly true, and should be venerated as
divine, till he has, by the industry of investigation,
ascertained what, in the first place, these decisions

352 ILLUSTRATIONS

arc; and how exactly, in the next place, they ac
cord with the texts and doctrines of the sacred
scriptures. The members of the assemblies, which
issued the decisions, though convened in council,
are in his eyes fallible man fallible, as himself.
and the church, at the periods when they met
together, had, according to the testimony of pro-
testant writers, fallen into various and important
errors. Thus, according to the centuriators, the
faithful believed in purgatory as early as the year
138; prayed for the dead as soon as the year 200;
and long before the epoch, when the last of these
venerable assemblies was convened, worshipped
images and relics, used confession, professed celi
bacy, &c. &,c. All these and many similar in
stitutions were general, at these periods. Now if,
at periods so early, there existed institutions, which
the protestant reprobates as errors, if they were
approved, or only tolerated or rather, as was the
case, if they were common and universal how
can he be assured and wisely secure, that the pas
tors of the church, in the four first councils, did
not err in their decisions. These pastors were the
men who had approved and promoted the very
objects which the protestant condemn^ as errors;
and therefore, just as in his supposition, they were
deceived in these respects, why, also, may they

TO SERMON II. 353

not have been deceived in the decisions of these
councils?*

In these councils, the respectable prelates who
composed them, condemned the four great heresies
of Arius, Macedonius, Nestorius, an:l Eutychcs.
Now, the authors cf th3sc heresies, and imny of
their proselytes, were men distinguished for thoir

* The circumstance is so notoriously evident, that the fa
thers and early pastors of the church believed, as tin; catholio
church believes at present, that the reformers and a multi
tude of later protestants have treated them with the simo
contempt and opprobrious abuse, which is daily so copiously
teemed on popery. I shall here pass over the abuse?, and
give the calrnrr testimony of a favv distinguished protestants,
respecting the opinions and authority of the early fathers of
the church.

Melancthon says of them: "T/i? and nt fathers, imm-diat lij
from the beginning of the church, obscured the doctrine of the
justice of faith; th?y multiplied c?remonii'S, and d^vls.-d new
mod?s of worship. (On i. Cor. 3.)

Peter Martyr says; "T/ie errors of the church began imme
diately after the tims of the apostles; and therefore, as long
as we urge the authority of councils and fathers, so Icng ive
shall remain inthe same errors." p. 1. 477. p. 490.

Beza says: "I have said more than on?e, that comparing
the ancient times of the church, even those immediately after
the apostles, with ours, they had less knowledge, but belter
consciences."

"Indeed," says Warburton, "what constitutes a protestant
of fashion is a contempt of the fathers." Hence, the numer
ous works to shew that their testimony and authority are of no
force in points of faith.
45

354 ILLUSTRATIONS

learning and moral virtues. They were, many of
them, mortified, chaste, meek, and charitable.
They were versed likewise in the holy scriptures ;
and tracing in them, as they imagined, just as the
protestants do at present, the truth of their peculiar
doctrines, they defended them also, as the protes
tants do, by the authority of the sacred text, and
defended them often by arguments the most spe
ciously conclusive. Their method of proof and
defence was almost entirely protestant. Therefore,
again, if it be supposed, that the pastors of the
church had erred before the eras of these heresies,
why may they not have erred in condemning these
heresiarchs? Doubtless, the men who, it is assert
ed, had erred in so many important points, might
have erred equally in their decisions, when con
vened in councils. At least, the protestant, who
without examination and discussion, blindly adopts
their decisions, neither acts up to his own princi
ples, nor by his principles, has any rational cer
titude, that their decisions were correct.'**

*By his principles, a protestant should not certainly be
lieve aug-ht, nor hardly disbelieve aught, which he has not
previously discussed. Thus, not only should he be cautious
in receiving the decisions of the church, which condemned
the four great heresies, and know well the doctrines of those
heresies, he should, in reality, be cautious also how he admits
her decisions in condemning the various other heresies, which
riie equally condemned within the interval of the four first
centuries; and know equally the doctrines of these variant

TO SERMON II. 355

Thus, I think it manifest, that the security of
the protestant, even when it is most secure, is
founded on the visionary basis of presumption, and
is repugnant to the general tenor of his principles.
I might here, did not the circumstance appear in
vidious, or the triumph of vain complacency I
might here contrast it with the wise security and
the tranquil confidence which the catholic enjoys
under the broad shade of the catholic church, re
posing upon the broad and solid basis of catholic
principles. Admitting an authority for his guide,
which he is assured cannot mislead him an authori
ty infallible and divine he only listens to it, and
believes ; hears its mandate, and obeys. No diffi
dence attends his submission; no trembling dis
cussions perplex and teaze his reason ; no doubts
alarm his faith. Or even abstracting from this
pleasing principle of his security if the' catholic
view only the human motives of credibility, which
give a sanction to rational confidence, what a lumi
nous and flattering combination of circumstances
does he contemplate, and how well calculated,

heresies. For, if she had erred already, why may she not
have erred in condemning them: and if the doctrines of these
heresies, as their authors all pretended, were founded on the
texts and authority of the bible, why may not the truth possi
bly lie concealed in some of them? Now, St. Epiphanius says,
that there had existed, or did exist, within this interval, eighty
different heresies St. Austin counts up ninety and Philaa-
trius a hundred and eighteen!

356 ILLUSTRATIONS

when compared to the few feeble motives of con
fidence which the protestant affects to boast how
well calculated to animate security, and to take
away from timidity itself the misgivings of appre
hension ! The catholic, even here, appears calm
ly seated upon a rock, while the protestant seems
leaning scarcely upon a reed. Possessing, from his
private interpretation of the sacred scriptures, the
same motives and authority for believing his re
ligion to be divine, which the protestant produces
as the sole principle of his faith and security, the
catholic adds to these the soothing conviction, that
his belief is that of every other catholic throughout
the universe, and of every age, since the period
when Christianity began to dawn. He sees that
his religion has been the religion of the learn
ed and wise, of the great and good of every
nation, of every place, and of every generation
of the sages and the saints, of the illustrious
heroes and distinguished characters, which, through
the long vista of fifteen centuries (to count only
to the pretended reformation) have adorned the
Christian world. When he compares the mul
titudes that have believed, and that still believe, as
he does, with the numbers of the protestant estab
lishment, he finds that it is comparing nations to
a few individuals, and contrasting the authority of
the illustrious men of eighteen ages, to the upstart
intrusions of a few obscure innovators, the date of

TO SERMON n. 357

whose origin is only yesterday. Rather, it is corn-
paring the authority of nations and generations,
the testimony of innumerable writers, and venera
ble councils, to the solitary opinion for this alone
is genuine protestantism of a solitary individual !
I will here only just remark, that if even it were
true, that the protestant were secure, it is equally
true, that under such awkward circumstances, lie
should be modest in his security not, as he does
incessantly, reproaching the catholic with folly and
stupidity for his belief. I will not do it, -but
might not the catholic, if petulantly disposed to
reverberate reproach, might he not, after viewing
his own and the protestant's relative motives of
security, compare the latter, for thinking himself
alone secure, to the madman, who called every
body a fool and a madman but himself!

Hitherto, in this illustration, I have considered
and admitted what, by the principles of protestant
ism, forms the best, and should be sole basis of
protestant security in religion. But, if it were to
be considered on what, in reality, his security re
poses, it would be discovered, that feeble as is his
best basis, and that on which alone it should repose,
that on which, in reality, it does repose, is
more feeble still. Let who may undertake to
analyze the motives on which the belief and S3CU-
rity of the protestant are grounded, he will discover,
that they are grounded, not upon the principles of

358 ILLUSTRATIONS

protestantism, nor upon the knowledge of pro
testantism, not upon the comparison, which he
has made between his own religion, and the institu
tions which differ from it; nor, consequently,
upon the wise conviction that his own religion is
divine, and other institutions human this would
be the wisdom of protestantism; he will discover,
that, with very few exceptions, the protestant be
lieves and is secure, because accident has placed
him in the society of protestants; secure, because
he is born of protestant parents, and has been bap
tized by a protestant minister secure, because he
is ignorant, and too indolent to instruct his igno
rance secure, because he listens to the voice of
prejudice and misrepresentation, and shuts his ears
to the language of wisdom and impartiality secure,
because interest, often, and passion and fanaticism,
and bigotry have more power over his reason, than
truth, piety, and moderation. In short, he will
discover, that few, very few, protestants have any
other motives for their security, but the accidents
of birth, the influences of education, the partialities
created by example, and those more pernicious par
tialities, which prejudice, self-love, and selfishness
excite. Lulled by these, or some of these, into the
feeble hope, that his religion may be divine, he lives

TO SERMON II. 359

in it without rational conviction, and dies in it
without wise security.*

*The celebrated Molines, to whom the protestants, on ac
count of his eloquence, gave the name of the protestant Fle-
chier, asked, one day, a catholic priest, whether among the
dying whom he assisted, there were ever any who entertained
doubts or uneasiness respecting the truth of their religion?
No, answered the priest, they regret only that they have not
always lived up to its injunctions. As for the religion itself,
I never met with any who had the smallest doubt about it.
Well, replied Molines, I have not found that such is the case
among us. Among the dying, many have often asked me, Sir,
are we right in our religion? Yes, yes, I said always to them,
be easy, and undisturbed on that point. But, alas! Sir, he ad
ded, I gave, or endeavoured to give them a conviction, in
those trying moments, which I did not feel myself. Molines
became afterwards a catholic. The circumstance of feeling
a want of conviction, like Molines, is I am convinced, not un
common among the well instructed members of the protes
tant church. Would, that like him too, they would labour to
remove it!

It was the opinion of Dr. Johnson, that the conversion of
a catholic to the protestant religion could not be sincere and
lasting, while he thought, equally, that the conversion of a
protestant to the catholic religion would have both the quali
ties of sincerity and durability. This opinion is mentioned
by Boswell, with his own glossary upon it. Sir William Scott
ays Boswell, informs me, that he heard Johnson say, " A
man who is converted from Protestantism to popery may bo
sincere, he parts with nothing, he is only super-adding to what
he had already, But, a convert from popery to protestantism
gives up so much of what he has held as sacred as any thing
that he retains; there is so much laceration of mind in such
a conversion, that it can hardly be sincere and lasting." "Th&

360 ILLUSTRATIONS

It is a circumstance astonishing, almost, as it is
alarming, that in contradiction to every principle of
his religion, and in opposition to the dictate of his
spiritual good, the protestant should refuse to rea
son upon the subject of his security. The circum
stance too., is peculiarly wonderful in a multitude of
protestants, who reason, and reason wisely, upon
almost every other object; who, upon every other
object which interests their happiness, or presents
the chance of danger, are restless and uneasy, till
they have attained the rational confidence of securi
ty. It is only upon the great interest of religion,
that we may observe the learned, the wise, the en
lightened, the prudent, and even the timid, supinely
easy and stupidly secure:- --proof, I will not say, of
this awful truth, that men arc often wiser in the
transactions which relate to this life, than in those
which regard the next ; but proof, certainly,
of this humiliating truth, that prejudices will
grow every where, and that the greatest and best
minds are frequently the dupes and victims of illu
sion.

Doubtlessly, if the protestant will not reason,
there is nothing more natural than his false security
nothing more obvious, than the respect which he
may, perhaps, entertain for his own religion, nor

truth of this observation," adds Bosv/ell, "may be confirmed by
many and eminent instances, some of which will occur to most
of my readers."

TO SERMON 11. 361

more intelligible than the disrespect which he cer
tainly entertains for ours. Let a man hear only
the commendation of protestantism and this is the
case with the protestant of course, he will esteem
protestantism only Let him hear nothing but the
misrepresentation and abuse of catholicity and
this too, is the case of course, he will be ignorant
of catholicity, and disesteem it. It is, indeed, true,
that considering the present habits of society, and
viewing the situation in which the protestant is
placed, it is easy, extremely easy although indeed
the thing is both improper and repugnant to his
principles- to account for his belief of his own re
ligion, and for his disbelief of ours, and consequent
ly, to account, also, for the illusive confidence of
his security.

I conceive, easily, that when once an institution
has been formed after it has, for a certain space
of time, subsisted in peace, and been organized to
order after it has been strengthened by the writ
ings, and recommended by the virtues of many
distinguished characters I conceive it natural
enough, much too natural for the men who have
been born in it, above all the indolent and the igno
rant, who seldom dream of looking beyond the pre
cincts of any situation in which they are placed, to
sit down easy, and contented in its society. But if,
too, to an institution thus formed, organized, and
recommended, you add these other pleasing re-
46

362 ILLUSTRATIONS

commendations, that its doctrines and practices
impose no painful restraints on self-love and the
passions that it is endowed with wealth, honours,
and worldly comforts that it possesses a priest
hood, which led, perhaps, by interest to adopt its
tenets, finds it also its interest to propagate them
where is the cause for wonder, that formed as
men are, and circumstanced as are the members
of such institution; above all, if they neither rea
son, neither interrogate the motives of their secu
rity, nor listen to the doctrines of any other reli
gion where is the wonder, that they profess its
tenets without hesitation, and live in its commu
nity without distrust? The above is the descrip
tion of the state of protestantism, and of the situa
tion of the protestant. Why, who will deny, that
be what may the errors of such institution, the
effect would be the same its members would live
securely in it?

It is to an equally obvious cause, that curiosity
or wisdom may trace the confident security, which
the protestant entertains in his disbelief of popery.
There is, really, ^nothing more natural, than the
unhappy prejudices which the unreasoning pro
testant cherishes in regard of our religion; nor,
consequently, since prejudice is the nurse of false
conviction, any thing more natural, than the false
security which he entertains in its disbelief. I will
dwell a moment on the subject of these prejudices.

TO SERMON II. 363

The prejudices of the protestant in regard of our
holy religion curiosity will find, if it trace their
origin and their causes instilled with his milk,
grow with his growth, and ripen with his matu
rity. Before the infant reason of the babe is capa
ble of any thing like discussion, before he can lisp,
or understand the language of w r isdom, while cra
dled yet in the nursery, his nurse, or his mamma,
with timid and prudent piety, describe our religion
to him as the most frightful thing in nature-
bloody, cruel, wicked, idolatrous, &c. &c. The
child has neither yet the comprehension to suspect
the truth, nor the means to detect the falsehood
of these assertions. He is, as yet, unable to distin
guish truth from error. The consequence is, that
as he naturally loves his parents, or his nurse, and
naturally believes them, he also, naturally believes
the tales which they relate to him respecting po
pery. From the nursery, the child is ushered into
the school. There he has a master, who confirms
what the nurse and mamma had taught him. He
hears repeated, and perhaps improved, the same
dreadful accounts of our religion. The gravity,
and supposed wisdom of the teacher give authority
to his words, and strengthen the impressions of the
nursery. Of course, his aversions for popery is
increased;

Jurat in verba magistri.

364 ILLUSTRATIONS

From the school the boy advances, perhaps, to
the university, and there, though little is said or
taught about religion, he hears and learns enough
to confirm the prejudices of the child: at least, he
hears and learns nothing to remove them. From
the university he enters on the broad walks of so
ciety; there he hears the angry invectives, the false
representations of his parson, the renewed ridicule
of his parents, and the satires of his friends; there
he hears, perhaps, the pious Doctor Shute so
lemnly proclaim that "popery is idolatry;" the
eloquent Doctor Rennel energetically declare, that
"it is an absurd and cruel superstition;" the or
thodox Doctor Tomline seriously teach, that it is
"a system of artifice and impiety," hearing, in
cessantly, men of this description, the grave, the
learned, the virtuous, and even the temperate often,
and the wise men, whom he does not suspect of
being ignorant of our religion, and whom he is
less disposed to suspect of being so unjust, as wil
fully to misrepresent it hearing them assert such
horrid things respecting it the consequence is ob
vious, that, as he is probably too indolent to con
sult, and already too partial to conceive consulta
tion necessary as he is lulled to tranquillity by the
tranquillity of those around him, he believes all the
assertions, and reposes, as confidently convinced
of the falsehood of catholicity, as he is of the er
rors of Mahometanism, or of the folly of pa-

TO SERMON II. 365

ganism itself. Thus is the false security of the pro-
testant natural ; but natural, only because he will
not reason, and wisely interrogate its motives. It
is the natural security of ignorance fed by bigotry;
the natural security of prejudice supported by fana
ticism; the natural security of indolence cherished
by invective, misrepresentation, and example I
exhort the protestant, be what may the measure of
his confidence, and the calmness of his security, to
distrust their wisdom, and discuss their causes. Al
though natural, they are inexcusable, if they do
not rest upon the basis of truth. Should he discuss
them seriously, and according to the methods
which reason and religion recommend, he will dis
cover, without any very arduous research, that
what had hitherto formed their platform, was but
the baseless fabric of the fancy, and the work of
prejudice. He will discover the truth of that aw
ful saying of the apostle, that ''there is a way, which
seemeth right , but ivhose end conducteth to death."

(L) PAGE 60.

On liberty of belief ., fyc.

I have, in the series of these illustrations, so
often explained the nature of the liberty, which the

366 ILLUSTRATIONS

protestant claims in the investigation of religion,
and so often pointed out the mischiefs, which
it has produced, and which it is calculated to pro
duce, that it should appear superfluous to make it
any more the subject of discussion. I do, indeed,
as I dislike repetition, resume the discussion with
reluctance. Only its very superior importance,
and the wish to unite the scattered observations
which I have made and, if I can, of strengthen
ing those observations have induced me to do it.

O

Lest, however, in reprobating liberty of conscience,
I should seem an enemy to liberty itself, or to li
berality wisely understood, let me premise this re
mark, that I mean not to reprobate any form, ex
ertion, or extent of mental and religious liberty,
which are not incompatible with the ordinances of
God the nature of the Christian dispensation
I premise this remark, that, if I inculcate the ne
cessity of restraints and the wisdom of stays and
barriers, the restraints and barriers, whose necessity
and wisdom I inculcate, are neither those of per
secution, nor those of civil intolerance. Loving
liberty, as much as does the protestant, while it is
regulated by the laws of wisdom, and while it acts
in its proper sphere ; and abhoring, equally as he
does, the horrors of persecution, I approve no
restraints in religion but those, which piety has
created under the influences of charity exhorta
tion, instruction, knowledgeno barriers, but those,

TO SERMON II. 367

which the hand of Divinity has placed in the paths
of the sacred fold.

Having made these observations, in order to
screen myself from the imputation of illiberality, I
will, also, before I proceed to contest the propriety
of the protestant liberty of belief, -just recal the
definition and nature of it, to the recollection of
the reader.

The liberty which the reformation gave to its
adherents, and which protestantism still gives to its
members, is the liberty to investigate, and by the
suggestion of reason decide, what in the great
code of revelation, or in the various systems of ge
neral belief, is true, what false, what wise, what
foolish. Secure, as he supposes, under the direc
tion of the apostle who bids him "prove all things"
the protestant erects his reason into a supreme tri
bunal, and his judgment he makes the standard,
by which he " proves" or measures the divine ob
jects which he discusses. The result of this process
is what constitutes his religion. So that, as Dr.
Watson elegantly expresses it, the religion of a pro
testant consists u in believing and confessing what
he pleases et sentire quce velit, et qucc sentiat loqui"

However desirable the circumstance might be,
in some instances, for the peace and permanency
of the protestant institutions, yet have they not the
power, with any thing like decency or consistency,
to contest or deny to any individual the privilege of

368 ILLUSTRATIONS

this liberty. Whoever contests or denies it, must
accuse the first reformers of rebellion, and set aside
the only fundamental maxim and the most distin
guishing feature of the protestant religion. Who
ever denies it, is obliged, if consistency be an obli
gation, to re-acknowledge (he authority, and return
to the pale of the catholic church; because, be
tween the most perfect liberty of conscience, and
the acknowledgment of her authority, there exists
no medium. The reason of all this is evident, not
only in the conduct and language of the apostles
of the reformation, who discarded all authority
as tyranny, and the violation of the liberty of the
gospel, but in the acknowledged tenets of all the
various sects of protestantism. Among these sects,
there is not one which does not reject the infalli
bility of all human tribunals; and considers all
institutions and assemblages of men, whatever be
their multitude or talents, like individuals, subject
to error. The consequence is, therefore, obvious
that, since the opinions of men, who may err, and
of course, perhaps, do err, cannot form the basis of
divine faith, nor give to belief the firm conviction
which faith requires therefore are the conscience
and reason of each individual his guides; and God
is the sole tribunal and judge, to whose authority
he is amenable.

The above is an accurate delineation of the rea)
maxims of protestant liberty, on whose groundless

TO SERMON it 369

ness, impropriety, inconsistency, and danger, I will
proceed to present a few reflections to the good
sense and piety of the protestant reader. _

Consulting, then, in the first place, the sacred
scriptures, respecting the liberty of opinion, which
our great legislator appears to sanction in his fol
lowers, I find there, no other liberty, but that of
believing, precisely and distinctly, what his wisdom
had imparted to mankind. "He that receiveth not
my words" he says (John xii. 48.) "hath one that
judgeth him: the word that I have spoken, the same
shall judge him at the last day" He that believeth
not, shall (as the protestant versions translate the
passage) be damned. Mark xvi. 16.) Accordingly,
St. Paul adds, "tlwugh we, or an angel from heaven,
preach any other gospel than that which we have
preached, let him be accursed." (Gal. i. 8.) No
thing, certainly, can be more forcibly expressive
than the above texts, and several others of the
same import, of the necessity of faith, and of the
necessity of that faith which believes that, and
that only, which Christ Jesus has revealed. There
is not in the sacred volumes, a solitary text, which
sanctions either the privilege of disbelieving with
impunity, any of tho doctrines of revelation, or of
believing them as the private judgment, or fancy of
the individual, might deem them wise, rational, or
credible.

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370 ILLUSTRATIONS

Consulting, in like manner, the opinions of the
holy fathers and early writers of the church, re^
specting this boasted liberty, I find, that neither the
thing, nor even the name of liberty of conscience
was known among them. Not in their volumi
nous and various writings; not in the decrees of
councils; not in the canons of synods; not in the
regulations of churches, will there be found aught
that authorizes so strange a privilege. On the con
trary, whoever consults all, or any of these im
portant mediums of information, will discover, that
so far from sanctioning it, they all, in imitation of
the apostle, declare "accursed" whoever believes
not all the doctrines of the church. They all con
sider the obligation of entire, undoubting and hum
ble faith, as an essential appendage of religion; and
they hang the neglect of it round with threats, ana
themas and excommunications. Such even, at the
purest and most enlightened periods, was the con
viction of the church of the necessity of admitting
and believing all her doctrines, that in cases which
were comparatively of minor consequence, she ex
communicated whoever refused acquiescence in
her decisions. She acted thus, in the regulation of
the time for the celebration of Easter; anathema
tizing those who did not celebrate it on the proper
day, although they believed sincerely, that the day
on which they celebrated it was the right one, and
celebrated it too, like the members of the church,

TO SERMON II. 371

with the greatest fervor and devotion. The case
was, in points of faith, and in the objects of reli
gion, the church wisely considered even little things
as great; and looked upon every thing as essential,
that was established and ordained by the injunc
tions of her authority. Liberty of conscience,
most certainly, she granted not. Offspring of pride
and parent of insubordination, she ranked it, un
der the appellations of disbelief or disobedience,
among those sins which exclude from eternal
happiness.

In reality, considering the nature of the Christian
dispensation, its end and aim, its value and impor
tance, it is obvious, that under all and each of these
considerations, it is too vitally and momentously
serious to be left to the discretionary judgment and
choice of the human fancy. For, what is the na
ture of the Christian dispensation? It is the will of
God imparted to his creatures, marking out to them
the precise method in which he chooses to be wor
shipped; containing the laws which he orders them
to observe, and the doctrines which he commands
them to believe. What are its end and aim? The
attainment and security of salvation. What its va
lue and importance? Of course, infinitely great,
since the attainment and security of salvation are
dependent on its cultivation: they are such, that
even a God, divesting himself of his greatness, came
down from the seats of glory, and clothed himself

37*2 ILLUSTRATIONS

in the littleness of man, that he might communicate
them to us: such, that he shed his blood to ren
der them dear to our feelings, and interesting to
our understandings. Now, considering the Chris
tian dispensation, merely as the law appointed by our
great legislator for his subjects to observe; or, as the
way marked out, by which he chooses to be honour
ed, it follows, doubtlessly, that it is their bounden du
ty and obligation to revere it, to observe the prac
tices which it ordains, and to believe the tenets which
it communicates. It is for these reasons, that the
sacred scriptures express, so forcibly, the obligation
of belief for these reasons, that the church always
considered every form of religious error so criminal
- for these reasons, that at every period, since the
establishment of Christianity, so many heroes have
shed their blood rather than deny any article of
their creed. Certain it is, there is nothing in the
nature or institution of revelation that can seem to
sanction, I do not say any deliberate dissent from its
provisions and injunctions, but even the liberty of in
terpreting its provisions and injunctions in any other
sense than that which their divine author appended
to them. It is here, that that saying of his is ve
rified, he that is not with me, is against me. Mat.
xii. 30.

Hence, are those trite, though triumphantly
urged vindications of error groundless " that pro
vided a man be convinced in his conscience of his

TO SERMON II. 373

opinions, and be sincere in the profession of them,
he is, therefore, justified for believing and profess
ing them." This is nearly the same thing as to
say, that all is right, which a man believes right ; the
same thing as to say, that the violation of what
God commands and the disbelief of what he has
revealed, are often more obligatory, than the ob
servance of his law, and the belief of his sacred
doctrines. It is, at all events, erecting a very fal
lacious interpreter of right and truth, and a very
general approver of wrong and error, into a rule
and standard of religion. I will, en passant, remark
upon the import of these interesting words, con
science and sincerity, that nothing is so little under
stood as they are, nothing so much abused. That
conscience is a guide of right and truth, and sincerity
a principle of virtue, are propositions, which pro
perly understood, are perfectly correct. They are
so, where the will and the law of God are the
basis. They are not so, where they lean upon
what is wrong or false. The case then is this, that
although indeed it is always sinful to act against
the dictates of conscience and sincerity, because
in such event, the man who does it, condemns
himself; yet are there various forms and descrip
tions of conscience and sincerity, which, as they
rest either upon right and truth, or upoH wrong
and error, give to the actions and belief, which
result from them, either the stamp of virtue, or

374 ILLUSTRATIONS

the stigma of criminality. There is the upright
and enlightened conscience, the wise and well-
founded sincerity ; and there is the false and un
enlightened conscience, and the unwise and ill-
founded sincerity. The former is the guide of
virtue, the beam of truth, and the source of merit :
the latter, the monitor of vice, the friend of false
hood, and the source of reprobation. To the
latter, applies that dreadful sentence "tiiere is a
way, which seemeth right to man, but whose end
conducteth to death" Hence, are conscience and
sincerity mere relative and compound things ; wise
only, justifiable and right, as they accord with the
will of God, and are regulated by the dictates of
truth. Without these maxims, there is no crime so
dark in the annals of vice ; no error so gross in the
history of folly, that might not be justified on the
plea of conscience, and the score of sincerity. The
persecutor and the martyr, the sage and the fanatic,
the man who adores revelation, and the monster
that derides it, without this maxim, might be
ranked in the same situation: for, it will not be
denied, that under the influences of conscience and
the guidance of sincerity, there have been perpe
trated the grossest crimes, and believed the grossest
errors. Therefore, does it evidently follow, that
not what men usually call conscience, is the vindi
cation of human judgment; but that conscience
only, which is upright and enlightened. And it
consequently follows again, that whoever believes

TO SERMON II. 375

any system of religion, although he helieve it with
all the convinction of persuasion, and all the honesty
of sincerity, yet if it be false, and repugnant to
the injunctions of our great Legislator, he believes
it at his peril, and at the risk of his eternal happi
ness. Why, in reality, is a false conscience any
more an apology for error, than it is an apology
for vice? In religion, both are reprobated with
great severity. Or, why, is a false conscience an
excuse for error, before the tribunal of the Divini
ty, when it is not admitted as an excuse for the
non-observance of civil laws, before the tribunal of
a civil magistrate?

I have hitherto deduced my arguments in con
demnation of liberty of belief, not from the inter-
nal nature of religion its mysterious dogmas and
impenetrable truths, but from its external injunc
tions the commands and threats with which its
observance is enforced. Besides these, which or
dain its cultivation and belief under the pains of
reprobation, and should, therefore, appear suffi
cient to awe liberty and restrain the mind from eva-
gation, there are other motives, also deduced from
its internal nature, which, whilst like the com
mands and threats, they render the necessity of be
lief indespensable, render, also, the liberty or lati
tude of belief, besides criminal, inconsistent. Be
fore I proceed to shew the causes of this incon
sistency, I will, in few words, point out -the sub-

376 ILLUSTRATIONS

ject indeed requires it the properties of that great
and distinguishing attribute of man, human reason;
---that attribute, whose privileges and properties
are adduced as another vindication, and the best
vindication, likewise, of liberty of belief. Of this
attribute I wish to speak with veneration and
respect. I wish neither to contract its dominion,
nor lessen its influences. Let its dominion and its
influences reach where they may the farther they
reach the better provided they do not outreach
the dominion and the influences of wisdom. Even
of the errors of reason I wish to speak with tender
ness. Man, then, is a rational agent. As rational,
it is not only his privilege, it is his duty too, to
employ his reason in the investigation of a multipli
city of objects, and in the attainment of various
forms of knowledge. He is, for example, a mem
ber of society. In that capacity he has many
moral and civil obligations to comply with, as a
man, a citizen, and a subject; consequently he is
bound to study and ascertain in the laws of nature,
and by the instincts of wisdom, the methods by
which these obligations arc discharged, and their
cultivation best promoted for the benefit of society.
His reason is free in the study, opinions and adop
tion of these various methods, provided they do not
militate against the interests of his fellow -man. He
lives on a theatre that is crowded with stupendous
things the wondrous works of divine omnipo-

TO SERMON II. 377

tence : astonishing the understanding, gratifying
the senses, and exciting in the mind sensations of
gratitude and admiration for the Great Being,
which called them into existence. These, too,
reason may labour to comprehend; and if it please,
like the genius of the immortal Newton or Descar
tes, form systems to explain their phenomena and
their properties. Besides these, there arc a multi
tude of other pursuits in the paths of science and
the fields of literature ; objects and pursuits, which
are measured to the capacity, and congenial to the
inclinations of the human mind. These again, rea
son may cultivate with freedom ; and, if it choose,
soaring on the wings of fancy, delightfully lose it
self in those imaginary regions which poetry has
given to the muses. In short, upon these, and
subjects such as these, the employment of reason is
not only permitted, but if properly conducted
laudable and wise. Yes; and although even it err,
and form absurd opinions, there is in general, no
thing in the error and absurdity that is criminal It
is even possible -and the circumstance has often
happened that an error may be useful a nearer
approximation to truth, and a hint which genius
may improve into science. But, then, the cause
of all this liberty and latitude of opinion in the ca
ses which I have cited, is this because in them all,
reason acts in far proper splwre because the ob
jects which she investigates, and the truths which
48

378 ILLUSTRATIONS

she discusses, are in the order of natural things;
commensurate, in some degree, to the measure of
her faculties, and not prohibited by any positive in
junctions of the Divinity, nor consequently, where
there is nothing in them profane nor injurious to so
ciety, criminal in the eyes of the divinity.

But, cannot the divine wisdom establish an order
of things distinct from that of nature, and superior
to it ; a sphere, in which the truths and objects
which it contains, are neither similar to those of
reason, nor analogous to those of the senses; a
sphere, in which the truths are supernatural, and
the objects mysterious a sphere which God for
bids the profane eye to attempt to penetrate, and
which, therefore, whilst it is fruitless; it is criminal
likewise, to attempt to penetrate? Doubtlessly he
can establish a sphere of this description. Well,
and has he really established such? If he have, then
is there evidently an inconsistency, as well as im
propriety, in the liberty which undertakes, by
the light of human reason, to measure its sacred
objects. Yes, and the protestant acknowledges
it as we do, that such is the nature of the sphere
of revelation. He acknowledges, that revelation
is the communication made to mankind by the
Divinity, of truths exceeding the measure of the
human understanding truths, which without com
prehending, he is bound to believe, with the same
firmness of assent, as if he perfectly understood

TO SERMON IL 379

them. Obscurity, he considers an essential proper
ty in the objects of faith, and the quality, which
gives to faith its merit and its deservings. In short,
he acknowledges, that between the human eye and
the objects of revelation, there is suspended a veil,
which the profane hand of human curiosity is for
bidden to attempt to draw aside, under the pain of
being overwhelmed with the glory which resides be
hind it. Prov. xxv. 26. But, what therefore
is the use of reason in the investigation of religion?
Why, doubtlessly, not to comprehend objects,
which it is already admitted, are incomprehensible ;
not to measure by the scale of natural things;
truths, which are supernatural; nor, to ascertain
by the testimony of the senses, what has no analogy
with the senses. The use of reason in the investi
gation of religion, is to prove the existence and
certitude of religion; to appreciate the motives,
which render it credible ; and to convince wisdom,
by the light of evidence, that its belief is necessary.
The use of reason in the investigation of religion is
to distinguish real from imaginary revelations ; the
will of God, from the artifices of men ; and by
the aid of those luminous maxims which our great
legislator has inculcated, to ascertain which among
the numberless institutions which crowd society, is
" the pillar and foundation of truth" This is the
use, and these the proper functions of reason, in all
religious investigation.

380 ILLUSTRATIONS

I have remarked in a preceding illustration,
what, because it is important, and enters into the
subject of this note. I will here repeat, that in all
the discussions of religion, the reasoner should bear
constantly in his recollection, that there are two
very distinct and very different kinds of objects to
be considered ; the objects which faith adores, and
those (usually termed the motives) which recom
mend the objects of faith to our veneration. The
objects which faith adores, are obscure ; but the
motives of faith plain the former supernatural, and
therefore incomprehensible ; tlr' latter natural,
and therefore easy to be understood. It has pleased
the divine goodness to shed beams of light upon
the path which conducts to the sanctuary of truth,
beams bright enough to conduct to its threshold,
the unprejudiced man, who does not shut his eyes
to their gentle influence. I might have compared
faith, and the motives which recommend it, to
that pillar which God commanded to move before
the Israelites, presenting a dark, and a bright side
a side invisible, and a side shining with the most
effulgent rays of light. Such, precisely, is reli
gion dark in its truths, bright in the motives
which recommend them invisible in its mysteries ;
luminous in the arguments which establish them.
Of course, again, these are the functions of rea
son to discuss the motives which recommend re
ligion: to contemplate the luminous evidences

TO SERMON II. 381

which enforce it; and to follow them to the sanc
tuary to which they beneficently conduct. This,
indeed, is all that reason is competent to perform.
This done, her functions terminate; she has reached
the boundary of her sphere, and arrived at the
verge of that, in which a new order of things com
mences; which, bearing no resemblance to created
things, renders the investigation of them fruitless.
Whoever has wisely considered the end and nature
of the Christian dispensation, will allow, that such
alone is the method in which its investigation should
be conducted. The proper use and exercise of
reason is to study its evidences, not its mysteries.
It is in this sense, that belief is reasonable. It is in
this sense, that St. Paul, who calls faith '"the sub
stance of things not seen," and therefore not under
stood, exhorts the faithful to take care "that tlmr
faith be reasonable? and it is in this sense, that the
church, so far from condemning the investigation
of religion, on the contrary, condemns the neglect
of it as the source of superstition. The investiga
tion of religion, thus conducted, produces piety; as
its investigation, conducted on the latitudinarian
principle of interrogating its mysteries, generates
impiety.

The above principles, I have just said it, are not
peculiar to the catholic; they are the general prin
ciples of all believers in revelation. And, hence,
how contradictory, and at the same time, how

382 ILLUSTRATIONS

profane, are the reasoning and the conduct of those
men, who admitting them in theory, reject them
in practice; and erecting a tribunal in the little,
but proud dominion of their own understandings,
cite before it, not the evidences which alone they
are competent to judge, not the motives, which
evince the truth or falsehood of catholicity, but its
mysterious doctrines, and the divine truths which
are impervious to human penetration. Certainly,
such conduct in men, who admit and profess the
preceding principles, is preposterous and wrong.
Yes, and then, too, how do they proceed in the
discussion of these mysterious doctrines? Why,
they compare them with the truths of reason, and
the objects of the senses; and because to the sug
gestions of their wisdom they do not appear to ac
cord with either, they decide with an air of autho
rity, solemn as if they were infallible, that they
are false, foolish, idolatrous and criminal. Thus,
I have shewn, in regard of the great mystery of
transubstantiation, do Porteus and Seeker, and a
host of protestant divines, judge and determine its
absurdity. Abandoning every wise principle, by
which the truths of revelation should be discussed,
they adopt, as the criterion of their decision, a
principle as unbecoming as the insolence of reason
could, in such circumstances, suggest. They judge
of its reality by the testimony of the senses, and
decide, that, because the senses do not attest its

TO SERMON II. 383

reality, therefore it is absurd and ridiculous to be
lieve it. Charlatanic reasoners! or rather worse
far than charlatanic; profane reasoners! limiting
the omnipotence of the Divinity, and establishing
as a rule of judgment in religion, what is not, even
always a correct one in nature. As if the author of
the laws of nature could not suspend the laws of na
ture ; or, as if the omnipotence of our great Re
deemer could not, if his wisdom willed it, impart
to mankind his sacred body under whatever form
he chose. Reason should merely ask, whether he
have really willed it ; and by the light of those evi
dences which attest the existence of certitude, en
quire whether he have really given it not consult
ing the senses, the Eucharist is a mystery not in
terrogating the laws of nature, the Eucharist is
above them. Why, had the men, who take their
senses for the guide and rule of their decisions,
lived during the period while Christ conversed on
earth, they would, in like manner, have decided
had they reasoned in like manner that he was not
God. Just, as now they say, the Eucharist is only
bread, because it appears to be only bread tlie
senses cannot deceive MS -just so, they would have
said, Jesus is only man, because he appears to be
only man the senses cannot deceive us ! We ab
hor the profaneness of the unbeliever, who by
reasoning, has reasoned away the doctrines of reve
lation ; or who rejects all mysteries, because his ca-

384 ILLUSTRATIONS

pacity does not comprehend them ; yet do I serious
ly think, that there is nothing in their reasonings,
that is worse reasoned ; nor in their incredulity,
that is more profane, than the reasoning and incre
dulity of these bold empyrics. The reproach,
which Pope makes to the profane judges of the
ways of providence, might, with a trifling altera
tion, be applied to them.

These puny reasoners in the scale of sense,

Weigh their own weakness 'gainst omnipotence ;

Call folly, what their folly fancy such ;

Say, here, God does too little, there, too much;

Snatch from his power his sceptre and his rod ;

Measure his greatness ; are the God of God.
In pride, in reasoning pride, there error lies,
They quit their sphere, and rush into the skies.

I do not wonder that during the fermentation
and disorders of a revolution and the reformation
was such the nature of religious liberty should
not have been defined with accuracy ; nor its limits
marked out with nice discrimination. The reform
ers owed their power, and the reformation its po
pularity and establishment, to the emancipation of
reason from every principle of restraint. But, I
do wonder, although the circumstance is certainly
consistent with the maxims of the reformation,
that at subsequent and calmer periods, when wis
dom and moderation have contemplated all the
properties of religious liberty, and measured all its

TO SERMON II. 285

bearings, relations, and effects I do wonder, that
any should still define it, " the privilege of believing
and professing what each one pleases." Why do they
not add to the definition, and the right, likewise, of
doing what each one pleases? The mischief result
ing from the threefold privilege might, eventually,
have been greater, but the impropriety of the defini
tion would have been nearly the same. Let me
then, however superfluous the discussion may appear,
after the reflections which I have made on the na
ture of faith; and the proofs which I have adduced
of the necessity of true faith let me say a few words
on the nature and properties of liberty in general;
in order to deduce an inference respecting the na
ture and properties of religious liberty.

That man is free; that he is allowed to exercise
his freedom ; and that the exercise of his freedom
is commendable, all this, if properly understood,
is perfectly correct. Man is free; his liberty is the
best, the noblest, the most happy prerogative of
his nature ; the source of his present comforts, and
the principle of his future expectations. But, in
what does this liberty consist? Has the beneficent
Being, who has bestowed it on us, circumscribed
it by no boundary, or raised no mound to restrain
its violence, for although, indeed, it is the best
of our prerogatives, yet it is, also, the most active
and the most impetuous? Certainly; the thing
is evident he did not bestow it for the purposes of
49

386 ILLUSTRATIONS

doing what is ivrong, nor of believing what is false.
Therefore, it is evident, that liberty has its boun
daries ; or to speak more philosophically, that li
berty has its sphere. And what is the sphere of
liberty? Right. Here, then, presents itself the
definition or idea of liberty. It consists in doing
and believing what is righl; and, therefore, not
in doing and believing "wliat we please" It is
thus, that even in the pagan world many of its sa
ges have defined and considered liberty. It is thus,
that in society, the most enlightened legislators
have determined and fixed the nature of civil liber
ty. Combining its nature and its prerogatives with
the happiness and security of states, and with the
general good, they make it consist in submission to
the laws, and in obedience to equitable institutions.
Thus, man is free, while wisdom is the guide and
basis of his conduct; the citizen free, while he
submits to just and useful laws; the child free,
while he obeys the pious injunctions of his parent.
Man, in reality in every state, circumstance and
situation, is most properly free, and only properly
free, while right and wisdom are his guides. When
these cease to conduct him, he becomes the slave
of prejudice, and the dupe of passion.

Whoever admits these notions of liberty -and
they are the dictate of only common sense will
easily admit, that liberty must also have its boun
daries in religion. Calculating, indeed, the na-

TO SERMON II. 387

ture and end of religion, and combining these
with the natural impulses of liberty and its tenden
cy to excess, he will admit, that these boundaries
should be circumscribed to an extremely contracted
sphere. Religion is a system of humility and re
straint ; of self-abasement and diffidence ; of de
pendence and order. Its end and aim are the sub
jugation of passion, by the privations of piety; and
the conquest of pride, by the influences of submis
sion. Its object is to subject man -the whole man
to the Divinity. For this purpose, while its mo
ral and penitential discipline imposes restraints upon
the ivill) its mysterious doctrines impose equal re
straints upon the understanding; requiring, as in
the case of the will, the tribute of entire obedience
to the authority of the Almighty. It is to these
motives we should refer those severe threats and
injunctions of our Redeemer, which, in the for
mer part of this illustration, I cited, ordaining be
lief the belief of religion, just as his wisdom
taught it, under the dreadful penalty of eternal re
probation. The consequence is, I think evident,
that as in society, civil liberty consists in submission
to the laws of the state; so religious liberty consists
in humble, but wise obedience to the injunctions
of religion, and in the firm belief of all her sacred
doctrines.

Here then, let wisdom, if it can, while impress
ed with these maxims, reconcile with them the

388 ILLUSTRATIONS

wide, the immense, the boundless liberty, which
protestantism confers upon its proselytes upon the
vicious, as well as the virtuous; upon the igno
rant as well as the learned; upon the foolish as
well as the wise the liberty to believe and profess
just what each may please! The mere statement
of such liberty is almost a demonstration of its ab
surdity. It is absurd in religion, as the liberty of
doing what each one may please, is preposterous in
reason. Just as the latter liberty would subvert
society would be a volcano disgorging storms,
and ravages, and destruction; so would the former
destroy religion, and become the parent of errors
and heresy, and impiety.

In reality, if setting aside all the arguments,
which hitherto I have adduced to prove the in
consistency and impropriety of the protestant liber
ty of belief if I had no other arguments to induce
me to condemn it, but the mischiefs which it has
produced, these alone would suffice to induce my
reason to reprobate it. It will not be denied, that,
whilst it is calculated to generate, it has actually
generated all the forms of error, which credulity,
at every period, has believed; and all the forms
of heresy, which superstition has ever worshipped.
It was this privilege, that, at the era of the refor
mation, even before the death of the great refor
mer, produced a countless multitude of systems of
religion was the parent of Lutheranism, Calvin-

TO SERMON II. 389

ism, Anabaptism, Socinianism rendering each of
these great institutes a hundred-headed monster,
and the parent of a thousand mischiefs. It is still
this privilege, which, in our own times, is the
source of nearly all the errors which wisdom la
ments, and religion weeps. The fanaticism of the
methodist, the stupidity of the jumper, the canting
nonsense of the various tabernacles and societies
which crowd this island, all repose upon it. So
indeed, I have proved elsewhere, do the profane-
ness of the deist, and the impiety of the atheist.
These, in the long dark catalogue of evils resulting
from them seditions, wars, persecutions, enmities,
injustice in every form have their origin and mo
tive, in the adoption and veneration of this privi
lege. So that calculating the evils only, which it
has produced, and combining these with my no
tions only, of the wisdom of the great author of
the Christian institute, I feel an invincible repug
nance to believe, that he could possibly have be
queathed to mankind as the guide of their belief, a
prerogative so dangerous, so liable to abuse, and
so pregnant with disorder.

Hence, I close the illustration with this counsel
to the protestant to consider seriously the nature
and tendency of his own principles, and the nature
and tendency of religion; and to compare and
combine both together compare together the in
dependence of the former and the strictness of the

390 TO SERMON II.

latter; the pride of liberty with the docility of
faith. I exhort him to contemplate coolly the
effects which his principles are calculated to pro
duce, and which they have produced so often.
With the feelings which these reflections will im
press upon his mind, I again exhort him to inter
rogate his reason, whether it can wisely believe
that such principles are divine. Interrogating his
reason, it would tell him, that pri nciples so bold
and licentious, and which gravitate so strongly to
abuse, can hardly be the principles, which the
humble, the wise, and the beneficent Redeemer
of mankind, would establish among his followers,
as the leading maxims of their salvation. Interro
gating his reason, it would tell him, that as truth,
and unity, and order, are the ends of religion, so
should the means of attaining and supporting these
ends correspond to their necessity. Interrogating
his reason, it would tell him, that the Being who
has established authority as the safeguard of states,
and the harmonizer and basis of civil society who
has commanded, that subjects shall pay obedience
to princes, and submit to human laws who under
the Jewish dispensation ordained, that its members
should "do what the chair of Moses ordered" (Matt
xxiii. 2.) would not, under the most perfect
and severe of all institutions an institution, in
which the salvation of man is united with the belief
and integrity of truth, and with the humility of sub-

391 ILLUSTRATIONS

ordination would not have deputed and sanction
ed to him the proud and dangerous liberty of "be
lieving and professing what he pleases" If so, then
is the wisdom of God less wise in the formation of
religion, than in the regulations of civil govern
ments, and he has done less for the peace of the
church, than he has done for the tranquility of
states. -Thus, interrogating his reason, and com
paring circumstances and objects by the rules of
analogy and the dictates of good sense, he will con
clude, that since the liberty of protestantism is
neither analogous in its nature to the nature of re
ligion, nor in its bearings calculated to maintain
the unity of truth, nor the harmony of subordi
nation, therefore, must authority that authority
which protestantism has discarded, and which ca
tholicity alone reveres, be the guide and guardian,
the rule and arbiter of .-the faith and piety of the
believer, and the support and buttress of religion.
This conclusion adopted, I need not say, that this
other conclusion is evidenttherefore, are submis
sion to the injunctions of the catholic church, and
the belief of her doctrines, the means and the me
dium of salvation.

END OF VOL. I.

INDEX.

SERMONS.

SERMON I. On the unity of the catholic church 3

SERMON II. On the want of unity in the protestant church 35

ILLUSTRATIONS TO SERMON I.

On the necessity of investigating the true religion 75

The protestant, by his principles, peculiarly obliged to investigate

the truth of religion 90

On the method of investigating the true religion 108

On the unity of the church 124

On the supremacy of St. Peter 128

The opinions of Melaucthon, Grotius, and Leibnitz, on the neces
sity of authority, and above all of the papal authority . . 140

On the spiritual supremacy of princes 143

On the differences of opinion and discipline in the catholic church 156

Innovation in faith impossible in the catholic church .... 159

On the necessity of an infallible tribunal ... ... 165

ILLUSTRATIONS TO SERMON II.

On the illiberality of the superior protestant clergy ... 179

Illiberality of protestant writers -

The English church differs from all other reformed churches . 240

The disunity of the protestant church

On the variations of the protestant creeds ...... 256

The reformed churches have all departed from their original con
stitutions 257

On the inconsistency of the protestant sects condemning each other

for heresy 260

Authority in religion Rousseau's reflections on the reformation 263

Protestantism the source of incredulity . . . 270

On the Inconsistency of protestant creeds . . . 317

The insecurity of the protestant 337

On liberty of belief, &c 365